Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Faculty & Research
  • Faculty
  • Research
  • Featured Topics
  • Academic Units
  • …→
  • Harvard Business School→
  • Faculty & Research→
Publications
Publications
  • Fall 2015
  • Article
  • Journal of Economics & Management Strategy

Doing Well by Doing Good? Community Development Venture Capital

By: Josh Lerner and Anna Kovner
  • Format:Print
ShareBar

Abstract

This paper examines the investments and performance of community development venture capital (CDVC). We find substantial differences between CDVC and traditional venture capital (VC) investments: CDVC investments are far more likely to be in nonmetropolitan regions and in regions with little prior venture capital activity. Moreover, CDVC is likely to be in earlier-stage investments and in industries outside the venture capital mainstream that have lower probabilities of successful exit. Even after we control for this unattractive transaction mix, the probability of a CDVC investment being successfully exited is lower. One benefit of CDVCs may be their effect in bringing traditional VC investment to underserved regions: When we control for the presence of traditional VC investments, each additional CDVC investment results in an additional 0.06 new traditional VC firm in a region.

Keywords

Social Enterprise; Venture Capital

Citation

Lerner, Josh, and Anna Kovner. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Community Development Venture Capital." Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 24, no. 3 (Fall 2015): 643–663.
  • Find it at Harvard

About The Author

Josh Lerner

Entrepreneurial Management
→More Publications

More from the Authors

    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Financial Acquisitions

    By: Josh Lerner, Amit Seru and Jennifer Zou
    • 2022
    • Faculty Research

    The Globalization of Silicon Valley: The Dynamics of Start-Up Diffusion

    By: Josh Lerner, Jacob Moscona and David Yang
    • September 2022
    • Faculty Research

    Yinglan Tan: Scaling a Venture Capital Firm in Southeast Asia

    By: Josh Lerner
More from the Authors
  • Financial Acquisitions By: Josh Lerner, Amit Seru and Jennifer Zou
  • The Globalization of Silicon Valley: The Dynamics of Start-Up Diffusion By: Josh Lerner, Jacob Moscona and David Yang
  • Yinglan Tan: Scaling a Venture Capital Firm in Southeast Asia By: Josh Lerner
ǁ
Campus Map
Harvard Business School
Soldiers Field
Boston, MA 02163
→Map & Directions
→More Contact Information
  • Make a Gift
  • Site Map
  • Jobs
  • Harvard University
  • Trademarks
  • Policies
  • Accessibility
  • Digital Accessibility
Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College