Title: Specialisation and syndication as risk management strategies for venture capital firms in India

Authors: Kshitija A. Joshi

Addresses: National Institute of Advanced Studies, Indian Institute of Science Campus, Bangalore 560094, India

Abstract: This paper presents an analysis of syndication and domain specialisation strategies pursued by the venture capital (VC) firms in India. Using the theoretical lens of the resource-based view, we explore how three main resource-related attributes: resource structure of the VC firms, resource requirements of the investee ventures and the ease of access to resources, drive the intensities of syndication and specialisation for the VC firms under study. We use the K-means cluster analysis technique, to analyse and profile four distinct VC firm segments: a) low syndication and low specialisation; b) high syndication and low specialisation; c) low syndication and high specialisation; d) high syndication and high specialisation. Our study contributes to the extant literature on VC investment strategies, top management teams and fills an important gap on the literature pertaining to VC firms in India.

Keywords: venture capital; syndication; specialisation; India; social capital; human capital; top management teams.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEV.2019.103740

International Journal of Entrepreneurial Venturing, 2019 Vol.11 No.6, pp.541 - 567

Received: 24 Sep 2017
Accepted: 18 Oct 2018
Published online: 26 Nov 2019 *

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