We analyse the American Small Business Investment Companies (SBIC) program designed to help small and medium sized businesses find venture capital. SBICs are private entities that may be financed by the Small Business Administration under favourable conditions. The success of this program should...

Some analysts and policy makers consider that the growth of New Technology Based Firms (NTBF) is impeded by an insufficient supply of capital. In Canada, as in other jurisdictions, the public authorities have interceded to fill this equity gap by increasing the supply of funds. However, several...

In Canada, most of the private placements are offered by small and unprofitable entrepreneurial ventures -- for which the asymmetry of information and adverse selection problems are particularly acute. Private placements are a very important source of equity for these emerging businesses. In...

Most countries have set up structures and programs for new business creation and financing. We analyze strategies implemented in France, Germany and United Kingdom, where the proportion of government funds in venture capital financing is significantly smaller than in the Quebec, yet the rate of...

Acknowledging that securities regulation penalizes small growing firms in their attempt to raise equity capital, most of the Canadian provinces have recently reformed their exemption rules. These rules allow the issuance of securities outside the boundaries of securities regulation. The rules...

For the past 30 years, government policy has largely been driven by the idea that the supply of venture capital was inadequate: Substantial tax incentives were created to funnel savings into that sector. Globally, Canada's pool of venture capital, administered by venture capital funds and...