Business angel investment in the China market.

Abstract Instead of venture capital (VC), informal private venture (business angel, BA) investment is getting more and more important for business start-ups' fund-raising fund-raising, large-scale soliciting of voluntary contributions, especially in the United States. Fund-raising is widely undertaken by charitable organizations, educational institutions, and political groups to acquire sufficient funds to support their activities. due to its advantages like low entry barrier, simple-and-quick decision, low return rate requirement, and flexible time limitation. BA investment gradually is taking a more dominant position in financial fields of the global and Chinese market, especially for high-technology firms and it will work better with the development of Chinese economic reform and capital market environment. This study briefly reviewed the history, current situation, and trend of BA investment market in China.

Keywords: Business Angel, Start-up, Venture Capital ********** Financing problems of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) become the focus of attention as these enterprises fulfill fulfill also fulfil tr.v. fulfilled, fulfilling, fulfills also fulfils 1. To bring into actuality; effect: fulfilled their promises. 2. an essential function in economic development. For SMEs in different stages of business development, they face different risk characteristics and have different forms of financing needs. Typically, venture capital plays an important role in new economic development led by hightechnology industries. But the importance of business angels has increased in recent years as venture capital funds Venture Capital Funds An investment fund that manages money from investors seeking private equity stakes in small and medium-size enterprises with strong growth potential. Notes: are investing less and less in the smaller initial funding stages.

Individual states are recognising the significant impact of angel investors An individual who invests his or her own money in a private company, which is typically a startup. An angel investor is not an employee or member of a bank, venture capital firm or other financial institution that normally makes such investments. on economic development. In China, the new force built by angel investors is emerging as well. As a newly-born industry, the Internet has a much lower threshold for entrepreneurship, especially for new graduates from schools, compared with biotechnology, medical, and materials industries. Startups usually require funds of a few hundreds of thousands dollars, an investment welcome by BA investment. Therefore, many entrepreneurs rely on angel investors when

it is difficult to get funding from VCs due to their higher criteria. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a definition from the National Venture Capital Association, NVCA NVCA National Venture Capital Association , informal private venture investment market is a venture capital market without intermediaries. Free investors and informal investment institutions make equity investment in original ideas or small startups. Investors themselves deal with the whole investment process from pre-investment selection, investment management, to post-investment monitoring and profit realisation. This kind of investment is called Business Angel investment (BA investment), a term originating from some wealthy individuals' "angel-like" funding for charitable theatrical productions Noun 1. theatrical production - the production of a drama on the stage staging production - a presentation for the stage or screen or radio or television; "have you seen the new production of Hamlet?" in Broadway in the old times. Based on the estimation estimation In mathematics, use of a function or formula to derive a solution or make a prediction. Unlike approximation, it has precise connotations. In statistics, for example, it connotes the careful selection and testing of a function called an estimator. by the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. Small Business Administration in 2002, there were about 250,000 angel investors a year in 1990s. The amount of investment was around US$10 billion in that period. Multiplied multiply 1 v. multiplied, multiplying, multiplies v.tr. 1. To increase the amount, number, or degree of. 2. Mathematics To perform multiplication on. by an average investment period of six years, the Years, The the seven decades of Eleanor Pargiter's life. [Br. Lit.: Bent, 1109] See : Time overall market size of BA investment is US$60 billion. In the European market, there are 120,000 angel investors and potential ones are estimated to be over 1 million. In the past, this kind of investment group was nothing more than a loosely connected network among rich people. In recent years, however, angel investors have been forming investment clubs (for example, Indiana Angel Net, Central New York Central New York is a term used to broadly describe the central region of New York State, roughly including the following counties and cities:

Cayuga County - Auburn Cortland County - Cortland Madison County - Oneida Angels.) There are some investment associations like the Angel Capital Association, ACA ACA - Application Control Architecture , established to improve pubic pubic /pubic/ (pubik) pertaining to or situated near the pubes, the pubic bone, or the pubic region. pubic adj. 1. understanding of BA investment. Generally speaking, individual angel investors, with financial expertise, have net assets Net assets The difference between total assets on the one hand and current liabilities and noncapitalized longterm liabilities on the other hand.

net assets See owners' equity. worth over US$1 million and personal income over US$200,000 (Zoltan and Tarpley, 1998). These startups usually get BA investment after running out of first-round funds (coming from entrepreneurs themselves, their family, and friends) but before getting support from Venture Capital (Prowse, 1998). Typical BA investment is carried out in two ways, one through close friends and the other through so-called "Angel Networking". The former works by introducing entrepreneurs to potential investors through relatives, friends, colleagues, or professors. And the latter is completed via angel networking in which finding one angel investor could intrigue Intrigue See also Conspiracy. Borgias 15th-century family who stopped at nothing to gain power. [Ital. Hist.: Plumb, 59] Ems dispatch Bismarck's purposely provocative memo on Spanish succession; sparked Franco-Prussian war (1870). another five to 10, or more. Angel investors like to see exit mechanisms. An exit mechanism means that the angel investor has a means to cash out on the investment. These exit mechanisms include a public offering of shares on a public exchange, a buy-back of investor's shares by the principals of the company, or the acquisition of the angel's position, or the entire company, by a third party. Besides, there is liquidation The collection of assets belonging to a debtor to be applied to the discharge of his or her outstanding debts. A type of proceeding pursuant to federal Bankruptcy and exit after the business failure of startups (Farrell, 1998; Kroman, 1997). This exit mechanism is often located in a shareholders' agreement shareholders' agreement n. an employment agreement among the shareholders of a small corporation permitting a shareholder to take a management position with the corporation without any claim of conflict of interest or self-dealing against the shareholder/manager. . Some angel investors are not too fussed about specifying a particular exit mechanism. What they want to see is a company which is run professionally enough to create value and to attract investments from other sources such as venture capitalists Venture Capitalist

An investor who provides capital to either start-up ventures or support small companies who wish to expand but do not have access to public funding. Notes: Venture capitalists usually expect higher returns for the additional risks taken. . These angels feel that, if your company is run professionally and you have the right product or service, eventually a buyer will surface or the company will be able to go public. Comparison of Business Angels and Venture Capitalists Many researchers had compared the investment criteria and procedures of business angels (BAs) with that of venture capitalists (VCs) across the full investment process (Freear, Sohl and Wetzel, 1995; Osnabrugge, 2000). For example, although both investors reduce agency risks at all stages of the investment process, BAs place more emphasis on doing so ex-post investment (the incomplete contracts approach), while VCs stress doing so more ex-ante investment (the principal-agent approach). Besides, there are many other differences: Smaller Scale of Financing than Institutional Investment Funds Noun 1. investment funds - money that is invested with an expectation of profit investment assets - anything of material value or usefulness that is owned by a person or company

BA investment prevails in smaller deals. US$500,000 is the dividing line Noun 1. dividing line - a conceptual separation or distinction; "there is a narrow line between sanity and insanity" demarcation, contrast, line differentiation, distinction - a discrimination between things as different and distinct; "it is necessary to between investment preferences of business angels and that of venture capitalists. Funds from business angels account for 93 per cent of total investment in deals less than US$250,000, while 75 per cent of investments come from business angels in deals between US$250,000 and US$500,000. Business angels play a much smaller role when financing exceeds US$500,000. Furthermore, angel investors' funds only account for 25 per cent in transactions between US$500,000 to US$1,000,000. Larger investments are dominated by venture capitalists (see Table 1). Focused Financing on Early Stages of Investment General speaking, venture investment processes include the seed stage, start up stage, first round,

second round, third round, and bridge loan stage (Barry et al, 1990; Lerner, 1994; Manigart and Sapienza, 2000). Research indicates that 48 per cent of funding in the seed stage comes from BA investment, the biggest source of funds in that stage. During the start up stage, angels bring 20 per cent of funds. In the first and second rounds, 8 per cent of funding come from business angels. Only 2 per cent of investment are from business angels in the third round and bridge loan stage. Business angels' importance in early financing stages is more significant in terms of the numbers of projects they participate in. Angels invest in 52 projects, 83 per cent of total, in the seed stage. They also invest in more projects than venture capitalists in the start up stage, during which period angels invest in 55 projects, 59 per cent of the total. Obviously, angel investors are more active than venture capitalists in both the seed stage and start up stage. Angels invest 54 per cent of their funds and participate in 60 per cent of their projects in the seed stage and start up stage. On the contrary, venture capitalists inject inject v. 1. To introduce a substance, such as a drug or vaccine, into a body part. 2. To treat by means of injection. only 20 per cent of their funds, investing in 28 per cent projects in the same stages. Please note that, to get one decade of data for analysis, the sampling period in this research is set to start in mid-1980s; this might produce the most optimistic optimist n. 1. One who usually expects a favorable outcome. 2. A believer in philosophical optimism. op estimates of venture capitalists' contributions in the seed and start up stages. We believe venture capitalists contributed much lesser in the early stages of business development after the 1990s. Faster and Simpler Decision-making It might seem that looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a business angel is tougher than looking for a venture capitalist. Nonetheless, it takes one month to arrange a meeting with a business angel and 1.75 months to sit face to face with a delegate A person who is appointed, authorized, delegated, or commissioned to act in the place of another. Transfer of authority from one to another. A person to whom affairs are committed by another. A person elected or appointed to be a member of a representative assembly. from a venture capital fund. Getting an investment from angels usually takes 2.5 months from the day of meeting, while it takes venture capitalists 4.5 months to take money out from their pockets (Capon capon castrated male fowl, larger than broiler, weighing up to 7 lb; produced either by administration of estrogenic substances or by surgical excision of the testicles. , 1997; Freear, Sohl and Wetzel, 1995). That is because angels have an advantage in numbers in numbered parts; as, a book published in numbers. See also: Number and most of them invest in fields they are familiar with.

Lower Expected Returns Expected Return The average of a probability distribution of possible returns, calculated by using the following formula: Unlike venture capitalists under great external pressure of profit making, business angels use theft own money for investment. Families with higher income express more preference to risk and liquidity than families with lower income: they would like to bear higher risks to earn higher returns. Similarly, they are willing to make fixed long-term investments for such rewards. Consequently, business angels are less risk-averse and more patient compared with venture capitalists. In China, business angels expect an annual return of 32.5 per cent while venture capitalists are looking to earn profits of 40 per cent a year (Jeng and Wells, 2000) BAs are quite different from VCs in terms of harvest mechanism. More often than not, angels exit by selling shares in private markets, while venture capitalists long for initial public offers or mergers and acquisition deals. This is a fundamental difference in expectation of return on investments or costs between these two types of investors. Good Combination of Capital and Experience Angel investors usually have much experience in business and entrepreneurship, and they are fairly active in the investment process. In addition to placing their representatives in the board of directors, most angel investors assume the role of advisers in the firms. Moreover, business angels participate in businesses in which they invest in ways difficult for venture capitalists. About a quarter of angel investors take full-time or part-time jobs in companies they invest in. Some investors even take part in the business operation, and that means a lot to technology startups which often lack experience. However, business angels' participation does not interfere in those firms' autonomy. Business angels only make investments in limited regions.

Business Angel Investment in the China Market BA investment in the China market is much smaller in terms of scale than that in the US market. In fact, the "863 Plan" and "Torch Plan", launched in 1986 and 1988 respectively, could be viewed as two venture capital investment projects by the Chinese government Ever since Republic of China founded in January 1st, 1912, China has had several regional and national governments. List

Chinese Soviet Republic Provisional Government of the Republic of China Reformed Government of the Republic of China

(Li and Wang, 2003). The incubation incubation /incubation/ (in?ku-bashun) 1. the provision of proper conditions for growth and development, as for bacterial or tissue cultures. 2. effect of BA investment on SMEs in their early stages of business development is recognised by the market. Many SMEs in China encounter various problems during their development. Fund shortage and financing problems are common for SMEs, and many businesses with good prospects failed because of these factors. Therefore, it is urgent for China to leverage experiences of mature capital markets in foreign countries, incubating the BA investment community and improving the structure of the domestic capital market. Five Faces of China Business Angels In China, BA investment emerged with the rise of the Internet and high-tech industries; SOHU (www.sohu.com) and SINA (www.sina.com) both started with business angel investments. Contrary to its important role in both venture investment and economic development in other countries, BA investment is in the minority in China. The primary domestic sources of venture capital in China are technology loans from government and development loans from banks. Government departments are still supervisors of technology VC firms established in recent years. This only source of funding led to the sluggish development of China's venture capital market, in which demands are conspicuously conspicuous adj. 1. Easy to notice; obvious. 2. Attracting attention, as by being unusual or remarkable; noticeable. See Synonyms at noticeable. unfilled (Liu, Zhou, and He, 2005). At the time of writing, there is no official statistics for the scale of China's BA investment. But based on a survey conducted by QingKe Co, Zero-2-IPO, (two research institutes), and China Venture Investment Research Institute (Hong Kong Hong Kong (h?ng k?ng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. ), China's VC amounted to US$12.8 billion in 2004, of which BA investment only accounted for less than 8 per cent. There are five categories of China angel investors: the first is composed of the new wealth group with foreign degrees or Chinese top management in foreign businesses; both have common characteristics such like good educational backgrounds, assorted expertise, and familiarity with the dynamics of global technology and management development. Examples of this group include Lee Kai-Fu, president of Google China, and Zhang Ya-Qin, director of Microsoft Research Asia Microsoft Research Asia is the Research Department located in Beijing, China. It's one of the five Research Centers of Microsoft, see Microsoft Research for details. . Both invested in DongFangBoYuan, a startup by students from Tsinghua University Coordinates: History Tsinghua University was established in Beijing in 1911 on the site of a former royal garden belonging to a prince, and was funded by an indemnity which . The second category includes bosses of proprietary companies and high-income individuals from certain industries. These people are agile investors with entrepreneurship experiences and have more funds for investment.

Angel investors of the third category usually inherit To receive property according to the state laws of intestate succession from a decedent who has failed to execute a valid will, or, where the term is applied in a more general sense, to receive the property of a decedent by will.

inherit v. wealth accumulated accumulate v. accumulated, accumulating, accumulates v.tr. To gather or pile up; amass. See Synonyms at gather. v.intr. To mount up; increase. by previous generations. This group needs to make investments in a market short of upward momentum but can't find proper investment opportunities. The fourth category is composed of foreigners Foreigners alienage the condition of being an alien. androlepsy Law. the seizure of foreign subjects to enforce a claim for justice or other right against their nation. gypsyologist, gipsyologist Rare. and expatriates with a strong interest in the China market; exemplified by Liu Yao-Han, the investor of AsiaInfo, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Massachusetts Institute of Technology, at Cambridge; coeducational; chartered 1861, opened 1865 in Boston, moved 1916. It has long been recognized as an outstanding technological institute and its Sloan School of Management has notable programs in business, professor Nicholas Negroponte Nicholas Negroponte (born 1943) is an architect and computer scientist best known as the founder and Chairman Emeritus of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab. He is the younger brother of John Negroponte, current United States Deputy Secretary of State. , who invested in SOHU (www.sohu.com). Investments made by angel investors of the fifth category are sponsored by the government (Liu and Yu, 2006). China Business Angels Focus on IT Industry One feature of individual venture capitalists is that they tend to invest in high-tech SMEs, which are less attractive to traditional financial institutions like commercial banks. Three hot regions of China BA investment are Zhongguancun in Beijing, ZhangJiang High-tech Park in Shanghai Shanghai (sh?ng`h?`, shng`h?`), city (1994 est. pop. 12,980,000), in, but independent of, Jiangsu prov., E China, on the Huangpu (Whangpoo) River where it flows into the Chang (Yangtze) estuary. , and Shenzhen City. According to the China Information Industry Department, China's information industry has climbed to be one of the biggest 10 in the world and ranks third in terms of industry scale.

BA investment, also seed money for the incubation of high-tech firms, are government-sponsored funds given by the Shanghai City government to assist graduates from universities in Shanghai in their technology startups. The purpose is to provide a well-established entrepreneurship environment for graduates. Those funds are primarily used to help university graduates, including students in their last year at the university, start up businesses with their research outputs or patented innovations, offering more opportunities for the students' career development. Funds are usually provided in two ways. The first is through funding for the incubation of technology outputs of the graduates. Shanghai College Technology Output Incubator incubator, apparatus for the maintenance of controlled conditions in which eggs can be hatched artificially. Incubator houses with double walls of mud, a fireroom, and several compartments each holding about 6,000 hens' eggs were developed in ancient times; the and Shanghai Technology Entrepreneurship Park are established with support from Fudan University Fudan University (Simplified Chinese: ????; Traditional Chinese: ????; Pinyin: Fd n D xu ; Shanghai Jiaotong University Jiaotong University, Jiao Tong University or Chiao Tung University was the predecessor of the following universities: Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China

, and the Shanghai Institute of Technology The Shanghai Institute of Technology (????????) is a private university in Shanghai, China. External links . They provide places for graduates who have technology outputs and help them turn those outputs into products. Each incubation project takes six months to one year to complete, and the amount of funding is US$50,000 for each project. The money is mainly spent on leased equipment, outsourced services, and stipends for those entrepreneurs (not exceeding RMB RMB Right Mouse Button RMB Regional Management Board (USACE) RMB Rolf Maier Bode (musician, band) RMB Ren Min Bi (currency of People's Republic of China) 2,000 per month). The second way is through funding for startups established by graduates with incubated technology outputs. The amount of investment is no more than RMB300,000 for each project. Investment is usually made after the review and assessment of applicants' funding needs. The ratio of investment to entrepreneurs' capital is from 3:1 to 5:1. Entrepreneurs' capital could be paid in the form of patented technology or funds (including loans). Investors could mitigate mitigate v. To moderate in force or intensity. mit iga tion n. their investment risk by making investments in stages based on the development of startups. Usually the investment period is from one to two years. Another example is the Innovation Fund for Technology-based SMEs, so-called "Angel Fund", in Xiamen. To help companies in Xiamen apply for funding of innovation, the Science & Technology Department of Xiamen provides training of application process for organisations. The Innovation Fund for Technology-based SMEs, approved by the congress, is a special fund from government used to support innovations by technology-based SMEs. The investment is focused on the seed and startup stages. In addition to the high-tech industry, the real estate industry becomes one of China business angels' favourites because of the soaring soaring: see flight; glider.

soaring or gliding Sport of flying a glider or sailplane. The craft is towed behind a powered airplane to an altitude of about 2,000 ft (600 m) and then released. housing prices in China. Local rich people and successful private enterprises may become the primary investors in China BA investment despite the government's strong hand in this business for the time being. After reforms and deregulations in the past 20 years, private businesses have become indispensable in the economic development of China. With more and more millionaires and billionaires burgeoning, venture capital funds undoubtedly serve as a good investment vehicle for their money. If China keeps its low interest rate policy, many private enterprises will make more BA investment, especially in wealthy regions like Beijing, Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Jiangsu. Those enterprises and rich proprietors will find it hard to resist the temptation Temptation Terror (See HORROR.) apple as fruit of the tree of knowledge in Eden, has come to epitomize temptation. [O.T.: Genesis 3:1-7; Br. Lit. of high returns from high-tech industry investment (Gu and Bu, 2005). Business Angel Club in China In China, BA investment is still a small market, but the demands for BA investment from startups are fairly large. The average BA investment is from US$30,000 to US$300,000 (Ni, 1999). There are two kinds of business angel clubs: loose confederation A union of states in which each member state retains some independent control over internal and external affairs. Thus, for international purposes, there are separate states, not just one state. and tight confederation, based on the degree of contact by club members. Members of the loose confederation hold monthly meetings and exchange information on new investment projects. While in the tight confederation, members put their funds together and make investments, after collaborative research, through one financial window. Taking Shenzhen City for example, more angel investors are involved with the quick development of high-tech industry in this region. These angels usually form an investment group to lower the investment risk. Sometimes it costs only RMB10,000 for each angel investor. The key success factors for business angel clubs are good locations, qualified members, and excellent managers. There are often more opportunities existing in technology- and talent-intensive regions, and members should have economic bases and risk-beating capabilities to protect investors' benefits. It is often necessary to have the investment projects evaluated by professionals to raise the success rates (Li and Sun, 2006). Limitation on the Development of China BA Investment The biggest limitations and restrictions on venture capital investment in China lie in its regulations and systems. For instance, the Security Investment Fund Law of China, effective from I June 2005, failed to solve the problem of legalisation n. 1. the act of legalizing; same as legalization. Noun 1. legalisation - the act of making lawful legalization, legitimation group action - action taken by a group of people for private equity funds. There is no effective way

to protect private property rights due to the lack of a property law in China. This problem could hinder hinder 1 v. hindered, hindering, hinders v.tr. 1. To be or get in the way of. 2. To obstruct or delay the progress of. v.intr. the investment from potential business angels. Besides, there is no Industry Capital Law and modified Business Contract Law, and even the bylaw bylaw n. 1. A law or rule governing the internal affairs of an organization. 2. A secondary law. [Middle English bilawe, body of local regulations; akin to Danish of business contract law provides no protection for angel investors if they are cheated or unfairly treated during the investment process. Another example of the limitation on business angels' intent of investment can be observed in the exclusion of individual investors and non-professional institutions from the scope covered by the Temporary Law of Startup Business Management, which encourages investment in SMEs, especially high-tech ones. Immature immature /immature/ (im?ah-chldbomacr) unripe or not fully developed.

immature adj. Not fully grown or developed. immature unripe or not fully developed. capital market, inefficient financing channels and incomplete exit mechanism together seriously lowers business angels' desire for investment. BA investment in startups stumbles under those limitations and many potential angels still keep their distance from the market. As for the matching services provided for BA investment, there are only few service providers with limited influence. Without a complete information network connecting business angels and entrepreneurs in a specific region, angel investors don't have enough projects to choose from and can only act passively in project selection. Entrepreneurs' integrity is another noticeable issue, which, to some extent, reflects the moral hazards Moral Hazard The risk that a party to a transaction has not entered into the contract in good faith, has provided misleading information about its assets, liabilities or credit capacity, or has an incentive to take unusual risks in a desperate attempt to earn a profit before the .

Besides, some potential business angels, either unqualified or conservative, are more risk-averse and

less interested in BA investment. This might be related to the burst of the Internet bubble See dotcom bubble. . These investors lost their money in previous investment projects, therefore, they don't want to get involved in venture investment again. There are some quasi-angels emerging with the development of the market economy. These people have accumulated some capital and have some knowledge and experiences in business management. They can be guided and encouraged to participate in venture investment activities. The savings level of Chinese residents is constantly increasing, and the supply of capital is going up. However, investors are not equipped with the necessary knowledge and skills for rational investment as the capital and security markets in China are still developing. It might be feasible for certain professional investment institutions to manage the pooled capital from investors. Conclusion Compared with US BA investment, China BA investment still needs related mechanisms for better management. According to previous research results and practical opinions, some suggestions are: Coordination of Government Regulations and Systems Many private enterprises and proprietors are wealthy but have no intention to make investment in high-risk and high-return businesses. Much of the government intervention A procedure used in a lawsuit by which the court allows a third person who was not originally a party to the suit to become a party, by joining with either the plaintiff or the defendant. into the market gap for startup and early-stage equity finance in many countries is based on the belief that the problem is on the supply side. Some research (for example, Mason and Harrison, 2002) argued that there is no shortage of finance available. Many business angels are willing to allocate To reserve a resource such as memory or disk. See memory allocation. a higher proportion of their investment portfolio to investments in unquoted companies, with better tax incentives having a positive effect on their willingness to invest. Over 90 per cent are currently looking to make more investments. There is a need for further interventions by policy-makers to remove these barriers so that more small firms can take advantage of the substantial pool of angel finance available. For example, the Oklahoma Technology Commercialisation Corporation has a well-thought-out and designed programme of tax credits, forums, and other incentives. Six other US states have angel incentive programmes and four states have tax credit programmes. Economic development through innovation is stimulated by the presence of angel investing which acts as a catalyst. Economic development in "have not" states with low levels of venture capital investments is being threatened by the transfer of local entrepreneurs and angel investors to nearby "have" states with high levels of venture capital investment activity (Lipper and Sommer Sommer is a surname, from the German and Danish word for the season "summer". It may refer to: Alfred Sommer (ophthalmologist) (born 1943), American academic Antnio de Sommer Champalimaud Barbara Sommer (born 1948), German politician (CDU)

, 2002). A More Compact Matching Mechanism--Business Angels' Network

Previous research has highlighted the existence of an information gap among business angels, mainly due to their desire to keep a low public profile and to the informal character of the market. The creation of business angels' networks was promoted to deal with this gap (San Jose San Jose, city, United States San Jose (s?n?z?`, s?n h?z?`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Roure, and Aernoudt, 2005). Robert D Hisrich, the chairman of the Entrepreneurship Division of the Academy of Management, pointed out that after his survey of the coastal and western regions in China, "matching" and "credit" are two essential factors for the buildup buildup also build-up n. 1. The act or process of amassing or increasing: a military buildup; a buildup of tension during the strike. 2. of sustainable angels' networks. Establishment of reliable private credits is even more important in a country like China. It will be easier to create stable management and investment mechanisms if private capital could be pooled together. This will benefit the growth of the whole BA investment market (Bergeman and Hege, 1998). If family or close friends don't have enough money for investment, groups with similar characteristics can help. The alumni could be a good source because they usually have many things in common and they are usually highly educated. A mast mast, large metal or timber pole secured vertically or nearly vertically in a ship, used primarily for supporting sails and rigging. The mast is as old as sailing vessels, and the oldest sailboats depicted (those of ancient Egypt) had a small mast placed forward and base could be easily established among alumni. Complete Set of Exit Strategies for Venture Investment Whether BA investment is successful or not depends on angel investors' ability to exit the investment and realise capital gains. Current ways of exit for business angels include IPO (Initial Public Offering) The first time a company offers shares of stock to the public. While not a computer term per se, many founders, employees and insiders of computer companies have found this acronym more exciting than any tech term they ever heard. , sale, buy-back, and liquidation. Among these, the IPO where the angels may transfer their ownership to other investors after the firm gets listed, is the best choice. The Second Board Market (non-IPO market) for unquoted companies has not been created yet so founders' shares cannot be traded. This is a problem for angel investors to exit the market. Venture investors could overcome these problems through pumping their funds into capital markets in Hong Kong or other countries, carrying out transactions of the whole or a part of the property rights in the domestic property rights trade centres, or exiting the investment via a merger and acquisition. However, all these rely on the healthy development of venture investment industry. In China, constantly increasing personal savings imply an abundant supply of private capital. The wealthy groups show great potential for BA investment. Although an effective group of BA investment has not been established, it is expected that one such group will be born under the development of the capital market, government support and guidance of BA investment, and atmosphere of a good investment environment.

BA investment will play a more important role in China's economic reform, prompting rapid development of SMEs and improving the structure of the capital market. References

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Table 1: Comparison of Scale of Investment by BA and VC in Hi-tech Startups Amount of BA Investment VC Investment Investment (Ten thousand Numbers of Per cent Numbers of Per cent Total USD) projects projects <25 102 58 8 5 110 25-50 43 24 14 8 57 50-100 15 8 31 18 57 >100 17 10 120 69 137 Total 177 100 173 100 350 Source: Angel Capital Association, 2005 Table 2: Comparison of Timing of Investment by BA and VC in Hi-tech Startups Per Cent Stage BA Investment VC Investment Others Total Seed 48 44 8 100 Start 20 45 35 100 1st round 8 69 23 100 2nd round 8 58 34 100 3rd round 2 52 46 100 Bridge loan -- -- -- -Source: Angel Capital Association, 2005 Table 3: Number of Current VC Firms in China Number of Firms (Thousands) 2001 2002 2003 2004 Domestic VCs 92 149 162 130 Foreign VCs 33 36 37 40 Joint-Venture VCs -- 15 17 17 Total 125 200 216 187 Source: Zero-2-IPO, 2004 Table 4: The Current VC Scale in China Capital under Management Available to China (US$ Million) 2001 2002 2003 2004

Domestic VCs 3,500 4,109 4,853 4,107 Foreign VCs 8,000 5,967 5,739 8,081 Joint-Venture VCs -- 420 635 635 Total 11,500 10,496 11,227 12,823 Source: Zero-2-IPO, 2004

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