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Research Policy Vol. 49 No. 10 2020

Liquidity events and VC-backed academic spin-offs: The role of search alliances

Johan Bruneel1,2,3,4; Bart Clarysse5; Annelies Bobelyn6; Mike Wright1,5,2,3,6,4

1 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique · 2 Institut d'Economie Scientifique Et de Gestion · 3 Lille Économie Management · 4 KU Leuven · 5 ETH Zurich · 6 Eindhoven University of Technology

open access

Abstract

Despite the emergent importance of liquidity events (IPOs and trade sales) as performance indicators for VC-backed academic spin-offs, empirical research on the drivers of liquidity events relating to such spin-offs has been limited. In adopting a search perspective, we analyze how different alliance types impact on VC-backed academic spin-offs’ chances of realizing a liquidity event. We find that market search alliances increase a spin-off's likelihood of a liquidity event, whereas technology search alliances reduce this likelihood. However, the latter effect is mitigated when the spin-off has a founding team with prior market experience. We explore the implications for practice and policy of the development and success of VC-backed academic spin-offs.

DOI
10.1016/j.respol.2020.104035
Volume
49
Issue
10
Pages
104035
Language
en
Sources
semanticscholar crossref openalex

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