Avaliação dos critérios de investimentos de startups na fase de atração de capital

Abstract

As a result of the profound changes introduced by the new economy, environments and dispositions emerged that began to lead the process of economic and social development. The Science and Technology Parks are examples of this transformation, bringing together technology-based companies with very high growth potential, the Startups. Emerging at an ever-increasing pace, these companies face challenges of varying degrees. However, the main problem that the founders of young companies must solve is the issue of funding, their source of funds. Attracting capital from potential investors, venture capitalists, is vital for the survival of these companies. In this scenario, some companies are more successful than others, suggesting that certain factors manage to gain investor confidence and capital. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to identify which startup investment criteria and techniques are used in the capital attraction phase. In this sense, the research sample was the startups in the operation of 3 Scientific and Technological Parks in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. From the data analysis, through a questionnaire with 111 startups, it was possible to characterize in 5 topics the criteria and techniques used by startups, when requesting capital from venture investors, corresponding to a “successful” result in the rounds of investments: management skills, team, and management, strategic, financial and market and product. The findings related to the priorities and investment purposes of startups show that the resources apply mainly to working capital and new technologies.