The effects of investor types on investees’ performance: Focusing on the seed accelerator

Abstract

Entrepreneurial firms in their early stages cannot finance their own capital sufficiently; hence, external investment is crucial for their survival. Angels, venture capital, and governmental support have played key roles in entrepreneurial financing. Accelerators, a new type of early-stage investor, have been rapidly growing in recent years, and have attracted strong attention. They provide financial support to entrepreneurial firms in their early stages along with mentorship, education, and networking services. However, the advantages of accelerators over existing funding avenues have yet to be proven. Therefore, this study analyzes the behavior and performance of accelerators, angels, and venture capital. We used 30,523 investment data regarding accelerators, angels, and venture capital from the CrunchBase database. By conducting multiple regression and survival analyses, we found that the performance of accelerators differs from that of venture capital, but is similar to that of angels. While accelerators’ investees perform well post funding, venture capitals’ investees perform well in terms of survivability. This study empirically verifies accelerator-related qualitative research. Additionally, we believe our results will contribute to future accelerator-related research and policy.