Sila C. Sarac

Trademarks and Venture Capital Investment: the Value of Trademarks in the Decision-making Process Sila C. Sarac

This research aims to shed light into the influence of trademarks on the due diligence process of VC funds. Finding the most-promising and eventually outpacing start-ups is at the core of a venture capitalist's activities. VCs seek herefor signals that ease the process. Previous research shows that intellectual property plays a significant role in a VC's decision-making. Due to the growing importance of trademarks, on the one hand, to protect incurred expenses, and on the other hand, as a reflection of the company's existing marketing know-how trademarks might have an influence on the amount invested in start-ups. The analysis at hand examines whether factors such as the presence of trademarks as well as the number of unique classes a trademark is registered in have an influence on the invested amount. Another layer that is added to the analysis are interaction effects, namely do different types of investors value the presence of trademarks differently and does the industry of a start-up play a role in the valuation of trademarks.