Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • November 2013
  • Article
  • Journal of Financial Economics

Investment Cycles and Startup Innovation

By: Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

We find that VC-backed firms receiving their initial investment in hot markets are more likely to go bankrupt, but conditional on going public are valued higher on the day of their IPO, have more patents, and have more citations to their patents. Our results suggest that VCs invest in riskier and more innovative startups in hot markets (rather than just worse firms). This is true even for the most experienced VCs. Furthermore, our results suggest that the flood of capital in hot markets also plays a causal role in shifting investments to more novel startups—by lowering the cost of experimentation for early stage investors and allowing them to make riskier, and more novel, investments.

Keywords

Innovation; Market Cycles; Financing Risk; Risk and Uncertainty; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention

Citation

Nanda, Ramana, and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf. "Investment Cycles and Startup Innovation." Journal of Financial Economics 110, no. 2 (November 2013): 403–418.
  • Find it at Harvard
  • Read Now

About The Author

Ramana Nanda

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Investment Committee Voting and the Financing of Innovation

    By: Andrey Malenko, Ramana Nanda, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Savitar Sundaresan
    • 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Venture Capital Booms and Startup Financing

    By: William Janeway, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf
    • February 2021 (Revised May 2021)
    • Faculty Research

    SafeGraph: Selling Data as a Service

    By: Ramana Nanda, Abhishek Nagaraj and Allison Ciechanover
More from the Authors
  • Investment Committee Voting and the Financing of Innovation By: Andrey Malenko, Ramana Nanda, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Savitar Sundaresan
  • Venture Capital Booms and Startup Financing By: William Janeway, Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf
  • SafeGraph: Selling Data as a Service By: Ramana Nanda, Abhishek Nagaraj and Allison Ciechanover
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College