Venture capitalists realize returns on their investments when their portfolio companies either go public (IPO) or are acquired by a publicly traded company. Finance theory implies that the sooner a particular return can be realized the higher the “real” return to the investor. We use an ecosystem perspective to investigate speed to initial Public Offering. Findings indicate that geography of the portfolio company matters, that non high-tech portfolio companies go public faster than do those in the computer-related sector, and that speed is increased with the recent favorable IPO market but not at the same rate for all regions.
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