Author(s)

Philipp Sandner¹, Christa Dufter², Richard Geibel³

¹Assistant Professor of Manufacturing, Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
²Research Association for Energy Markets and Technologies, Munich, Germany.
³Professor of Digital Management, University Fresenius of Applied Sciences, Cologne, Germany.

This paper examines the influence of venture capital (VC) funding on start-ups’ intellectual property (IP) strategies. More specifically, the number of additionally filed patent and trademark applications after subsequent VC funding rounds is investigated. The results from the analysis of 531 start-ups show that VC funding has a strong influence on consecutive IP strategy. Already first funding rounds lead to a remarkable growth of start-ups’ IP portfolios. Yet, although VCs especially promote product commercialization of start-ups, a greater growth of trademark compared to patent portfolios cannot be identified. However, this changes during the progress along the venture cycle.

Entrepreneurial Finance, Venture Capital, Patents, Trademarks, Intellectual Property

Sandner, P. , Dufter, C. and Geibel, R. (2016) Does Venture Capital Investment Lead to a Change in Start-Ups’ Intellectual Property Strategies?. American Journal of Industrial and Business Management, 6, 1146-1173. doi: 10.4236/ajibm.2016.612107.