风险投资与企业创新:基于风险资本专利信号敏感度的视角

Venture Capital and Corporate Innovation: From the Perspective of VCs’ Patent Sensitivity

本文使用我国A股上市公司样本探讨了企业专利活动对风险投资(VC)决策的影响机制。基于信号理论,采用1999-2016年风险投资事件与微观企业层面专利数据的研究发现,企业专利活动显著影响了未来一期风险投资可能性、投资金额与企业估值,且这种关系仅在首轮融资中存在;进一步研究表明,风险资本专利信号敏感度在国内私有VC、公司风险投资(CVC)以及知识产权保护水平较高的区域中表现更为明显;最后,本文发现风险资本专利信号敏感度与其退出内部收益率(IRR)正相关。本文解释了我国风险投资机构对专利信号的识别机制,为监管者引导风险投资行业发展、推动企业技术创新提供理论证据。

This paper studies how venture capitalists＇ investment decision is affected by firms＇ ex ante patenting activity. Drawing on the signaling theory and using patent data and venture capital investments of Chinese listed firms from 1999 to 2016, we find prior patenting activity strongly predicts VC investment propensity, amount and valuation, and our result is driven by first round VC investment. The patent sensitivity is more pronounced for private domestic VCs, for corporate venture capital（CVCs）, and when the investee is located in high IP protection environments. Finally, we find positive association between VCs＇ patent sensitivity and internal rate of return（IRR） upon exits. Our evidence sheds light on how VCs interpret firms＇ patent signals in China, and how policy makers can direct VC industry to facilitate technological innovation.