This study examines the interplay between governance structures and investment objectives in Corporate Venture Capital (CVC) activities, a strategy used by corporations to explore entrepreneurial opportunities through minority equity investments in startups. While CVC offers the potential for acquiring innovative technologies and knowledge, its effectiveness is often compromised by early termination risks stemming from misaligned governance and investment goals.

Building on existing literature, this research identifies a gap in the analysis of CVC units' distinct governance structures and investment objectives. To address this, semi-structured interviews with CVC representatives were conducted, focusing on three core areas: the primary investment objectives of CVC activities, prevalent governance structures, and the interaction between these variables.

Key findings highlight the importance of aligning governance structures with investment objectives to mitigate risks of operational challenges and premature terminations. A nuanced classification of governance structures based on vertical and horizontal autonomy was developed, alongside the identification of diverse governance characteristics. These characteristics were linked to different types of investment objectives, distinguishing between explorative objectives aimed at innovation beyond the corporation's core business and exploitative objectives aligned with the corporation’s existing operations.
The study preliminary reveals the moderating role of CVC governance structures in influencing the impact of corporate culture on open innovation within CVC activities. Specifically, while low corporate culture on open innovation can undermine the sustainability of CVC activities, certain CVC governance arrangements can mitigate this negative effect, thereby sustaining effective CVC operations.

This research contributes to the literature by providing actionable recommendations for structuring CVC units effectively, aligning some key governance characteristics with corporate innovation strategies and investment objectives for CVC activity. It offers practical implications for ensuring sustainable CVC activities and opens avenues for future research on how the governance structures of CVC units can mitigate the negative impact of a low corporate culture of open innovation on CVC performance.

Deep tech (DT) startups possess transformative potential but face distinct challenges, including long R&D cycles, high capital demands, and a focus on non-consumer markets. This research reveals that conventional incubation models, often tailored to agile startups, fall short in meeting the specific needs of DT ventures. Through a multi-case study of Dutch DT startups, this study finds that incubators must adjust their strategies to align with the DT lifecycle, particularly emphasizing business access over generic support...

The study seeks to develop a better understanding of the unique drivers and barriers encountered by Dutch Deep-Tech Startups (DTS) in the Sustainable Energy (SE) sector during their pre-founding to founding stages. The aim is to identify effective strategies employed by entrepreneurs to navigate these challenges and to leverage the drivers. Despite their potential to address major societal challenges, these startups often face high failure rates due to inherent complexities and dependence on heavy R&D. To gain a better understanding of the drivers, barriers, and strategies, the study utilizes literature review and semi-structured interviews. Key findings highlight supportive academic culture, regulatory environment (RE), business networks, entrepreneurial factors, and personal motivations as drivers, while identifying barriers such as academic-commercial divergence, regulatory complexity, investor discrepancies, entrepreneurial factors, market research (MR) challenges and personal barriers. Strategies for success include forming cross-disciplinary teams, leveraging academic resources, strategic funding opportunities, adapting to market needs, and maintaining resilience and motivation. A conceptual framework is proposed to guide future entrepreneurs.
The study aims to benefit future DTS entrepreneurs, by offering practical strategies and insights for overcoming barriers and leveraging drivers. Besides DTS entrepreneurs, the study also provides valuable insights for universities and policymakers. The research offers policymakers insights on optimizing the regulatory environment to better support DTS. It suggests the need for streamlined regulations and targeted funding initiatives. For universities, the findings highlight the importance of embracing an entrepreneurial culture and providing support systems for DTS, including access to specialized resources and mentorship programs. Overall, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of the factors that influence the success and failure of DTS, offering practical recommendations for enhancing their viability and impact.

This study aimed to analyze the decision-making process and criteria of angel group members. These factors form the basis of the final decision of a member when they decide whether or not to invest in a start-up. To investigate this topic, the factors that affect member decision-making are investigated when these members receive a pre-validated set of investment options from an investor club. To collect data, eight interviews with members of one investor club in the digital health sector have been conducted. These members are of diverse member type and nationality to analyze differences between members. During these interviews, different factors that influence the investors, like regulatory approval or a strategic fit, have been indicated by members. Throughout these findings, differences of focus between different types of members were observed. In some cases, the service provided by the investor club does not line up with the strategy of members, posing a question for their future collaboration. This dissimilarity in strategy shows as well in the factors of importance for members. Where business angel members have many commonalities with traditional business angels and usually fit well with the opportunities provided by the club, especially corporate members focus on other factors. Because of these differences in focus between members, providing a satisfying service to all their members is complicated for the investor club. Creating a more synonymous member portfolio will lower the variance in member demands, allowing them to provide a better service. Although the results show many similarities between the decision-making of business angel members and individual business angels, this will need to be researched further to definitively come to this conclusion.

In this research, a literature review is done to create a framework on all current known criteria other countries' VC firms set when selecting a Tech start-up. The framework also includes possible governmental and economic influences that could affect the decision-making of Chinese VC firms. Subsequently, nine in-depth interviews have been held with three different perspectives: Chinese VC firms, European start-ups, and Specialists with an external view on Chinese VC investments in Europe. By conducting interviews, it was possible to get in-depth information on Chinese investments in the past. With this, valuable information on essential criteria for Chinese VC firms when investing in Europe is obtained. After data gathering, transcripts were made, and data were grouped into themes using open coding. Finally, a within-case- and cross-case analysis have been executed to trace possible causal relationships regarding selection criteria of Chinese VC firms on one side and governmental and economic aspects on the other side. Based on the findings of this research, European start-ups can better assess the risks and understand the decision-making of Chinese VC firms investing in Europe. It appears that mainly governmental decisions from China and Europe influence the decision making of Chinese VC firms investing in Europe. Especially Chinese governmental capital requirements need to be considered before investments in European start-ups; however, VC firms try to circumvent the Chinese regulations as far as possible. The influence of the Chinese government comes forward in the fact that: 1. The investment needs to contribute to the Chinese economy 2. The European start-up should not compete with investments in start-ups funded by the Chinese government. In addition, European rules restrict Chinese investors from investing in sensitive technologies, making it increasingly challenging for Chinese investors to invest in specific European sectors. This happens mainly due to the negative coverage of US politics on China. Furthermore, this study has identified criteria Chinese VC firms particularly use when investing in European Tech start-ups. It was found that Chinese VC firms mainly focus on the following categories: 1. experience, personality, and capabilities of entrepreneur and team 2. characteristics of the market 3. characteristics of product 4. financial considerations. More specifically, based on the interviews, a list of 21 selection criteria is found that European start-ups could consider when attracting Chinese VC investments. To conclude, since every investment is unique, and the strategy of VC firms differs, it is good to consider all criteria found in this study, including the criteria found in previous literature of other countries' VC firms to get a better overview on the requirements Chinese VC firms set when investing in European High-Tech start-ups.