Venture Capital in Europe

The project "The Political Economy of Venture Capital in Europe" investigates how venture capital works in Europe. In doing so, framework conditions on the macro level, decision-making logics on the micro level, and effects on the meso level, i.e. in sectors of the digital economy, are analyzed and brought together. 

Issues

The project consists of three parts with the following questions:

1. The political origins of venture capital in the EU, with focus on the role of European institutions, such as the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF): what role do political actors play in the European genesis of venture capital?
2. Processes of valorisation ('assetisation') in venture capital firms: how are startups turned into financial assets? What logics govern this process?
3. Venturisation of the digital economy: what is the structural impact of venture capital as a form of financing on the European digital economy?

Method

The project uses qualitative methods and is based on document analysis, digital ethnographies and interviews.

Contact

The project is being conducted by Franziska Cooiman from the research group “Working in Highly Automated Digital-Hybrid Processes“.