This paper studies 1,655 venture investments in public equity (“VIPEs”) over 1995-2008. Although it has been conjectured that venture capital firms (VCs) have increased investments in public equity over time, we find little evidence to support this claim as VIPEs represent less than 2...

Assessing the performance of private equity (PE) investments is a challenging task. It starts with the fact that the assets are privately held and illiquid. By contrast, public equity valuations are determined in a vast open market populated largely by disinterested investors acting on publicly...