PROGRESS IN GEOGRAPHY ›› 2016, Vol. 35 ›› Issue (3): 358-367.doi: 10.18306/dlkxjz.2016.03.010

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The geography and syndication investment networks of venture capital in Beijing

Yiqing XU1(), Fenghua PAN1,*(), Xiaoyu JIANG2, Yalin QU1, Jinshe LIANG1   

  1. 1. School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
    2. School of Business, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
  • Received:2015-07-01 Accepted:2016-01-01 Online:2016-03-25 Published:2016-03-25
  • Contact: Fenghua PAN E-mail:xuyiqing@mail.bnu.edu.cn;panfenghua@bnu.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.41201107;Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, No.2015KJJCB30;Training Program of Scientific Research and Entrepreneurship for University Student (City-Level), Beijing Normal University

Abstract:

Existing research on the agglomeration of venture capital (VC) has mainly focused on the national level. This study explores VC's distribution and network at the city level in China. Based on the data of VC in Beijing, we conducted a spatial and social network analysis on the geography of the sector. The results show that VC is mainly concentrated in the Central Business District (CBD), Financial Street, and Zhongguancun areas, which presents a decentralized-centralized-decentralized tendency over time. The CBD and Financial Street are home to many institutions, with the former being a major settlement for foreign institutions, especially private equity (PE) firms while the latter mostly for state-owned institutions. Relying on its high-tech industry and high quality research institutions, Zhongguancun developed into a dynamic area with a large number of VC focusing on start-ups. The network analysis shows that VC collaborate with each other beyond the distance limitation. The major VC clusters have intense connections in syndication investments. The core and periphery analysis indicates that foreign institutions hold a prominent position in the syndication investment networks of VC in Beijing. The state-owned institutions occupy some key nodes in the network with less influence. Although there is a growing number of local privately-owned institutions, most of them are at the periphery in the network.

Key words: venture capital, cluster, social network analysis, syndication, Beijing City