Економічні науки / 2. Зовнішньоекономічна діяльність

Lecturer, Nazarenko K.
Alfred Nobel University Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine

VENTURE FINANCING IN UKRAINE AS ALTERNATIVE SOURCE OF INVESTMENT INNOVATION ACTIVITIES OF ENTERPRISES

 

The innovative process becomes an institutionally formed integrated network process, which gradually introduces an integrated approach, based on the need for an innovative partnership of public and private sectors, science and industry, in recognition of the effectiveness of alternative sources of funding. To improve financial support innovative processes Ukraine needs new alternative sources of investment resources. In developed countries, one of the main supports of small and medium innovation business and funding research is venture capital.

Venture financing radically differs from the bank financing, and has certain advantages: it does not require annual payments of percents, liquid collateral and the investor does not need to insure their risks, and meanwhile  actively helps to the new firm by means of advices, experience and business connections.

Lack of funding greatly hampers innovation activities of small and medium business in Ukraine. According to research carried out by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine, with almost ten thousand respondents, 85% of managers responded that they do not carry out innovative processes in the enterprise due to lack of appropriate financial opportunities, as well as other known causes, such as high financial costs - 40.3%, high interest rates - 38.7%, lack of customer funds - 39.8%. Comparative analysis of the purposes of venture capital investments in the total European private equity has shown that investing in early stage of 7.4% against 5.7% in the U.S. in rebuilding phase - 35% versus 8.6% in late stage - 8% against 4.4% [1]. Thus, today's European businesses venture even more than the U.S., focusing on the real support and development of small and medium enterprises, especially in the rebuilding phase.

The concept of venture capital fund in Ukraine differs from generally accepted: firstly, a specific institute of common investment (ICI) - namely, non-diversified closed-end mutual funds, which carries exclusively private placement of securities of its own issue and the assets of which more than 50% consist of corporate rights and securities not traded on a stock exchange or trading and informational systems. The main areas of venture capital investment in Ukraine is building, trade, hotel and tourism industry, treatment of agricultural production, insurance, information. A very significant is a tendency to middle risks investment projects which use operations with financial assets and fixed properties. While the focus on innovative projects are not peculiar to the venture capital.

Experts and specialists on innovation and investment activity problems named a broad range of organizational, economic and legal problems of venture capital innovation activity in Ukraine. Results of these studies can highlight the main factors hindering the development of venture investment in Ukraine:

­  imperfect  institutional support for venture capital;

­  inadequate legal framework for the development of innovation activity based on venture financing;

­  insufficient development of methods and mechanisms for risk management and venture capital  and venture investor protection;

­  insufficient development of stock market, difficulties in determining the market value of the shares of innovative enterprises;

­  inadequate sources of formation venture funds, in particular as regards the ban on investing in venture funds to insurance companies, pension funds, and insufficient participation of banks in investing in venture funds;

­  complication of the legal regime of intellectual property commercialization, in particular established due to the state budget;

­  imperfection of the Institute protect intellectual property rights;

­  poor information security for the protection of intellectual property at all stages of the innovation process;

­  shortage of qualified professionals - venture capital managers and qualified consulting projects in this area.

Considering that Ukraine is moving to the investment model of development, the meaning of regulation of investment process in Ukraine is growing nowadays. That’s why it is necessary to research and learn the effective implementation of innovation and venture capital activities in such countries as USA, Japan, Russia and Western Europe. The venture capital as it is operates in the most developed countries of the world, but in Ukraine legally and theoretically is not defined and not properly formed.

The special attention should be payed to institutional support and regulatory - legal regulation of venture funding that would have stimulated the direction of venture capital in support of promising innovative projects, stimulates involvement in financing venture capital of Ukrainian banks allowed to invest in venture funds institutional structures - pension funds and insurance companies contributed to the venture investor protection.

Another promising direction should be the creation of venture funds in the public - private partnership.

References:

1. Prysyazhnyuk V.Y. Features of the development of venture capital in Ukraine / V.Y. Prysyazhnyuk / Economy and State - 2007 - № 5 - Art. 20-21.