Venture Capital, Corporate Governance, and Firm Value

Corporate governance is regarded as a success factor for the development of growth companies and thus for the investments of venture capitalists. Despite its relevance for venture capital-financed companies and its impact on the firm value, the topic has so far not been extensively researched.


Based on economic and managerial theories, Maik Kleinschmidt studies the relationship between venture capital, corporate governance, and firm value. He explores the determinants of venture capitalists’ influence as well as their impact on the corporate governance of portfolio companies. In a second step, he analyses the influence of corporate governance on the companies’ firm value. His findings support the hypothesis that venture capitalists improve the corporate governance of their portfolio companies and that their abilities determine their impact. Moreover, they show the positive impact of good corporate governance on some measures for firm value.