Research

Bitten but not Shy? How Lawsuits against Parent Firms Affect their CVCs’ Investment Directions 

Job Market Paper (please click on the title for the most recent version)

Corporate venture capital (CVC) has become an increasingly important source of funding for startups, but questions remain about how legal challenges affect CVC investment behavior. This study examines the impact of lawsuits filed by startups against incumbent firms on the subsequent CVC investment activities of those firms. Analyzing over 30 years of corporate lawsuit and CVC investment data in the U.S., I find that CVC arms significantly increase investments in sectors where their parent firms face IP-related litigation. This increase is driven primarily by new investments rather than follow-on financing. Post-litigation, CVCs of sued incumbents boost investments by extensively syndicating and focusing on ventures that particularly value corporate backing. Further, defendants who face lawsuits, especially those related to intellectual property, respond by ramping up their patent filings in the areas related to the litigation. This finding suggests that defendants' strategic positioning, through bolstering their patent portfolios in contested technological areas, is the primary mechanism driving the positive relationship between litigation and increased startup investment.

The Proximity Dilemma: CVC Investment, Technological Overlap, and Startup Exit Strategies

Empirical findings of the performance implications for CVC-backed ventures are equivocal. In this study, I seek to answer how potential benefits of CVC investments for the investee venture are compromised by the extent to which the latter is considered a direct competitor to the parent corporation. I show that CVC-backed ventures produce more patents and experience higher chance of survival than their non-CVC-backed counterparts. As the technology between the parent corporation and the investee venture becomes more similar, the latter experiences a decrease in both the funding amount and the number of patents. These negative effects, however, are mitigated by the extent to which the venture’s product boosts the demand for the parent firm’s technology. Problem space overlap and technology proximity are positively correlated with the likelihood of the venture being acquired by the corporate parent, though CVC-acquirers do not seem to acquire their invested ventures at a discount. 

The Mediating Effect of Media on the Relationship between Litigation and Corporate Venture Capital Investment

How does Generative Artificial Intelligence Affect Entrepreneurial Teams?

With Manuel Gigena (KU Leuven)

Beyond the Exit: What do Inventor-Founders do Post-Acquisition?

Global Venture Capital and Startup Success

With Ashlee Li (Georgia Tech)