Financial services support for entrepreneurial projects: Key issues in the business angels investment decision process

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to provide knowledge about the determinants of success in the screening phase of the investment process and to demonstrate its relationship with success in obtaining capital from business angels (BA). This research sets out to achieve this objective by analyzing the impact that the evaluation of the business opportunity, the managing team and the presentation have on success in the screening phase. To do this, the research proposes four main hypotheses that are tested on 215 projects presented at a BA’s network. The data for the analysis are extracted both from the BA and from the entrepreneurs. The results show that the evaluation of the presentation is the most important factor that influences success in the screening phase, followed by the evaluation of the business opportunity.