Venture Capital Investments

Venture Capital is a form of financing provided by wealthy investors, investment banks and other financial institutions to start-ups and small- to medium-sized enterprises with strong growth potential in exchange of private equity stakes. These investors are also known as venture capitalists. With the rise of start-ups and small ventures, the market of venture capitalist and the interest of people in venture capitalism are also increasing. The valuation of the firms done by the venture capitalist at the beginning is not just a betting game. It is a thorough research done using different strategies and computing formulas.

Venture Capital Investments gives a fundamental understanding of various aspects of venture capital covering the nature of investments, deal evaluation, structure, economics and fundraising. It discusses the challenges a venture capitalist faces right from raising funds to evaluating a potential deal and exit valuation.  The book begins by covering the difference between the private market and the public market. Finally, it discusses fund economics and fund structure in venture capital firms. The book will be a helpful read for entrepreneurs who want to get into the shoes of a venture capitalist and understand how they valuate a firm or a start-up. It will also be an informative read for the aspiring venture capitalists who are interested to enter the venture capital market.

Raj Kumar is a distinguished academician, researcher and educational administrator. He is currently the Vice Chancellor of Panjab University, Chandigarh. He completed his PhD from Banaras Hindu University (BHU) and DLitt from University of Lucknow. He brings with him a rich mixture of professional integrity and administrative experience. Professor Raj Kumar has been actively engaged in teaching, research, training and consultancy in management field for more than three decades. He has been Director, Dean and Head of Institute of Management Studies, BHU, Varanasi.

Professor Raj Kumar has mentored more than a dozen PhD students, published many books and more than a hundred research papers in the journals of national and international repute. He has been on the editorial board of more than two dozen international and national journals such as American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, International Journal of Advanced Scientific Research and Development, BHU Management Review, Finance India, etc.

He is a chairman of various decision-making bodies of most prestigious institutions such as Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER); State Higher Education Council, RUSA; Chandigarh Region Innovation and Knowledge Cluster (CRIKC); Regional Advisory Committee of Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan; Standing Committee for SC/ST; UGC-SAP; and UGC–CAS II of different departments of Panjab University.

He is the member of Indian Institute of Public Administration (IIPA), New Delhi; Administrator’s Advisory Council, Chandigarh; Punjab State Council for Science & Technology; the governing body of the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune; Board of Governors of Punjab Engineering College, Chandigarh; academic council of various universities and chairman of a number of UGC expert committees.


Manu Sharma is assistant professor in University Institute of Applied Management Sciences, Panjab University. He is a PhD in Finance from Swiss Management Centre University, Switzerland, and has done his MBA (Finance) from University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to this, he worked with ICICI Bank as Manager in SME financing sector and GE Capital International Services, USA, as Assistant Manager for Capital Markets Group. He has also worked with Trudeau & Trudeau Associates, USA, as Valuation Consultant-Investment Banking.

Apart from teaching, Dr Sharma works as consultant with Providence Solutions Pvt Ltd and works on writing business plans as well as raising private equity for high-growth companies. He works on performing valuations of companies for the purpose of private equity investments as well as for mergers and acquisitions. He has published extensively in Journal of Private Equity (Institutional Investors, New York) and has even created an ‘Asset Pricing’ theory to value ‘Venture Capital Investments’ (published in November 2015, Journal of Private Equity, USA). He has written books on mergers and acquisitions and financial derivatives that have been prescribed in institutions such as S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research and Institute of Management Technology (IMT) Ghaziabad.