Venture capital (
VC) is money provided to seed early-stage, emerging and emerging growth companies. Venture capital funds invest in companies in exchange for
equity in the companies they invest in, which usually have a novel technology or
business model in high technology industries, such as
biotechnology and
IT. The typical venture capital investment occurs after a
seed funding round as the first round of institutional capital to fund growth (also referred to as
Series A round) in the interest of generating a return through an eventual exit event, such as an
IPO or
trade sale of the company. Venture capital is a type of
private equity.