Venture Capital & Private Equity

The course will outline the mechanisms of venture capital (VC) investment and the financing of startups and early growth firms. As VC is a subset of private equity, the course will discuss the management, legal and marketing issues of private equity in general. Topics include raising and structuring private equity funds, the limited partnership, and fund strategies. The course will consider the investment decision of institutional investors in private equity and how funds are structured to meet their needs. It will discuss post-subscription private equity fund management – deal screening, evaluation, negotiation, disbursement, investee management, valuation and exit – and will consider specifically the perspective of the VC investee company – alternative sources of financing, how to approach a VC to maximize chances of success, and governance issues in VC financed firms. The course may also delve into public versus private equity buyouts, valuation of buyouts and corporate restructuring under private equity.