Do Corporate Investors Affect Entrepreneurs’ IP Portfolio? Entrepreneurial Finance and Intellectual Property in New Firms

This study investigates the impact of corporate venture capital (CVC) funding on new firms’ subsequent intellectual property (IP) outcomes (i.e., patents, copyrights, and trademarks). The central premise is that CVC funding will encourage the development of technology-centric IP outcomes while dissuading the development of market-centric IP outcomes. Specifically, CVC investments entail a trade-off, which will increase post-funding patent/copyright output while decreasing post-funding trademark output in new firms. Findings from an analysis of a multi-industry sample of U.S. new firms provide broad support for this study thesis and suggest that the impact of CVC funding is contingent on entrepreneurs’ industry-specific experience.