Financing

In the context of entrepreneurship, financing is the capital necessary to undertake an initiative. Capital requirements should be analysed on a global basis from start-up to the sale and marketing of the generated products/services, with consideration for and a breakdown of the costs of each phase in order to provide the initiative with a financing map.

• Crowdfunding, also known as ‘crowd financing’ or ‘hyper funding’, involves the collective cooperation of individuals who form a network to raise money or other resources. Internet tends to be used to fund efforts and initiatives of other individuals or organisations. Crowdfunding can be used for many purposes such as artists who are seeking support from their followers, political campaigns, or funding for the creation of companies or small businesses.
• Venture capital. Venture capital companies are institutions the primary aim of which is to acquire temporary shares in the share capital of generally non-financial and non-real estate companies that are not listed on official aftermarkets. This financial asset acts as a catalyst for new innovative and entrepreneurial initiatives, which are able to modernise and enhance the competitiveness of a country’s business fabric.
• Business angels. These are individuals with extensive knowledge of certain sectors and investment capacity, who invest in business projects with a high growth potential in their early stages, and provide capital and added value to management. These investors back business projects and although they do not get involved in their day-to-day running, they add value and are therefore also known as ‘friendly capital’.
• Investment banking. Investments by large financial institutions in small technological companies are usually channelled through venture capital funds established for this purpose, or through funds raised by the management companies thereof.
• Specialised foundations. These typically operate in concrete and specific sectors on the basis of technological or geographical criteria (biotechnology, nanotechnology, etc. or projects from a specific region, etc.) Although they are generally relatively few in number, they tend to be very active.
• Family offices, high net worth families who assign some of their resources to systematic investment in new companies. They differ from business angels in the systematic nature of these investments and in the fact they are not so involved in their holdings.
• Large business corporations. Large companies that can operate internationally and tend to monitor certain technologies or sectors very closely related to their business model.