Venture Capital Data

What is Venture Capital Data?

Venture capital (VC) is a type of funding option that is directed to private companies either in their initial stages of operation or during a full blown operational period. Venture capital usually comes from well-established investors, investment banks, and any other financial institutions and does not necessarily have to take the form of monetary funding: it can also come as technical or managerial advice and expert services. Attracted by the potential above-average returns, venture capitalists (VCs) can overlook the risks of investing in small companies because in most cases, these companies have exponential growth potential and are poised to expand quickly. Therefore, venture capital data can provide investors with information concerning companies that have previously been financed and help them make informed decisions when advancing capital investment.

How is Venture Capital Data collected?

In the United States, venture capital data is collected by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in conjunction with PitchBook. The collected report is made up of investment activity of professional venture capital firms operating in the country and whose primary activities are financing investment. Data about VCs majorly obtained from a quarterly survey of venture capital practitioners conducted by PitchBook. This information is then augmented by other research techniques that are made up of public and private sources before they are subject to verification with the venture capital firms or the investee companies.

What are the attributes of Venture Capital Data?

The core attributes of venture capital show information about the nature of capital advanced by investors and the stages of the business when the capital is advanced. Seed stage venture capital is an attribute that highlight ventures that have been advanced to a business during the stage of the development of ideas. As such, this data shows capital invested particularly during the research and development stage of the start-up. Data on early-stage capital indicates information about the investment advanced during the initial setup operations and basic production stages of the start-up. This venture capital data attribute shows the levels of support for product development, marketing, commercial manufacturing, and sales. Once the business is up and running, venture capital can be advanced at the later-stage of operation when the business is generating revenues but has not conducted an Initial Public Offer (IPO).

What are the uses of Venture Capital Data?

Venture capital investors can make use of data as a primary decision-making tool when evaluating investments. Venture capital data allows investors to have solid evidence about the potential of investment opportunities rather than having to depend on mere intuition to make high-risk investment decisions. By assessing the attributes of these data, investors can evaluate the health of start-ups they are about to invest in. Data-driven approach when embraced by investors may narrow down their focus, providing them with the means to keep refining their models of capital advancement hence generally improving their decision-making capabilities.

How can a user assess the quality of Venture Capital Data?

• Level of completeness – given the highly unpredictable nature of the performance of venture capital, even a handful of omissions can have a substantial impact on reported performance figures. It is against this backdrop that users of this data checks and counter-checks to confirm that nothing is omitted in this data.
• Bias – some data may be distorted to bring out a purpose for which they are not intended for. For instance, a database may report positive past returns for funds to mislead potential investors on the solvency of the business. As such, assessing the quality of data validity can go a long way in informing investors about the level of risk.
• The definition of attributes ought to be checked just to make sure that they do not complicate cross-platform comparisons for venture capitals.

Who are the best Venture Capital Data providers?

Finding the right Venture Capital Data provider for you really depends on your unique use case and data requirements, including budget and geographical coverage. Popular Venture Capital Data providers that you might want to buy Venture Capital Data from are IVC Research Center, Pitchbook, Preqin, CB Insights, and Refinitiv.

How can I get Venture Capital Data?

You can get Venture Capital Data via a range of delivery methods - the right one for you depends on your use case. For example, historical Venture Capital Data is usually available to download in bulk and delivered using an S3 bucket. On the other hand, if your use case is time-critical, you can buy real-time Venture Capital Data APIs, feeds and streams to download the most up-to-date intelligence.

What are similar data types to Venture Capital Data?

Venture Capital Data is similar to Private Equity Data and Equity Capital Structure Data. These data categories are commonly used for Fundraising and Venture Capital Data analytics.

What are the most common use cases for Venture Capital Data?

The top use cases for Venture Capital Data are Fundraising and Deal Sourcing.