Effect of Venture Capitalists on Japanese Firms ’ Patent Applications in the Pre- and Post-IPO Periods

This paper examines the effect of venture capitalists (VCs) on the patent applications of Japanese firms in the pre- and post-IPO periods. We performed an empirical analysis using a Tobit model with endogenous regressors (IVTOBIT model) and firm- and industry-level variables. We found that shareholding by VCs has a positive effect on the patent applications of Japanese firms in the pre-IPO period and that this effect weak-ens in the post-IPO period