Software Start-up Failure: An exploratory study on the impact of investment

Abstract

Studying new venture success and failure is central to understanding the dynamics of new venture persistence. Investments, would they be subsidies, venture capital or shareholder investments, are seen as a statement of venture quality, but also as a tool for rapid growth. This study is a exploratory study that focus on creating understanding on if investment serve as a explanatory factor to increased activity (revenue). This study address whether software start-ups differ if the company has early stage investments and what is this relationship with the company being active later. We use the set of over 1,000 Finnish companies founded during 2010–2013 as an empirical material for our inquiry. The results show that, invested companies are different than not invested companies, but revenues are higher for the latter.