Oxford Business Law Blog

Public markets have undergone dramatic changes in recent years. Not only has the number of publicly traded firms been declining, but the nature of the firms that choose to go public has also changed...

By employing a comprehensive study of the legal practices of the venture capital industry, my recent article ‘The Political Economy of China’s Business Organisation Laws and its Implications for...

In our recent research paper, we argue that venture capital-friendly corporate law should feature flexible fair value protections. Venture capital is critical to innovation and, thus, economic growth...

There is little empirical work examining contractual innovation in the context of China, which is the second largest venture capital market in the world after the United States. Drawing upon...

As Covid-19 spreads through all continents, its economic significance becomes undeniable. With a predicted global gross domestic product (GDP) plunge, governments rush to provide a quick response to...

An often-advocated, important benefit of equity crowdfunding (ECF) is that entrepreneurs do not need to give up as much control as professional investors such as business angels (BAs) and venture...

Venture capital funds are widely recognised as performing a crucial intermediation role in the start-up sector, as they are capable of pooling capital from various investors, both individual and...

For founders of companies, appealing to funders can be everything – and that often means projecting a masculine image. In a recent article, we coined the term ‘venture bearding’ to describe this...

The rise of the crypto economy has brought promises and perils to the venture capital industry. By mid-2017, initial coin offerings (ICOs) had surpassed angel and venture capital funding as a more...

Large investors often have market power in private equity markets, such as in venture capital, growth capital, or private placements. The conventional wisdom is that powerful investors can flex their...

Will crowdfunding ‘democratize’ investing and make startup capital available to a wider range of founders? Our preliminary study suggests that equity crowdfunding is not providing its expected...

Angel investors have a long history as informal investors within the narrow subset of the private equity (PE) market. The first ‘angel investors’ were wealthy individuals who funded expensive...

Venture capital (‘VC’) is widely recognized as a crucial driver of economic growth, job creation, and commercialization of cutting-edge technology. In the Singapore context, the VC industry is...

Over the past decade, there has been an explosion in seed financing for early-stage technology startups. Increasingly, this seed financing is channeled to these companies via an entirely new form of...

Regulatory competition is alive and well in Europe, and a recent innovation in investment fund structures in the UK represents the latest salvo in an ongoing battle for Europe’s fund management...

Venture capital (“VC”) is widely recognized as a powerful engine that can drive a nation’s innovation, job creation, knowledge economy, and macroeconomic growth. As such, governments from various...

Given the well-documented problems of entrepreneurial moral hazard, the recent popularity of crowdfunding, with its defining feature that there is no active financial intermediary who demands partial...

The Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada have replaced their Labour Sponsored Venture Capital (LSVCC) programs with new programs without tax subsidies to retail investors, becoming in...

Startup lawyers are lawyers who represent early-stage companies as they seek to raise capital and grow their businesses. In many respects, the work performed by these attorneys resembles the work of...