Liftoff: when strong growth is predicted by angels and fuelled by professional venture funds
Résumé
The present research links knowledge about business angels’ individual cognitive and behavioral features and about their co-investment practice with professional venture funds in explaining differential rates of growth. We conducted a survey by questionnaire and were able to gather a unique dataset concerning the characteristics, investment practice and growth performance of a sample of 124 business angels having made a total of 222 investments in the south eastern region of France surrounding Grenoble. Our contribution to the literature is twofold: first, to our knowledge, the present study is the first systematic exploration of the investment practice of business angels in the French market for entrepreneurial finance, and thus helps extend our knowledge of angel investing beyond the limits of North America and the United Kingdom. Second, we make a specific contribution to a better understanding of the determinants of growth in ventures funded by business angels. It appears that especially strong growth rates are significantly supported when business angels and professional venture capitalists co-invest simultaneously due to a certain cognitive closeness.