Mi casa es tu casa: immigrant entrepreneurs as pathways to foreign venture capital investments

Balachandran, S and Hernandez, E (2021) Mi casa es tu casa: immigrant entrepreneurs as pathways to foreign venture capital investments. Strategic Management Journal, 42 (11). pp. 2047-2083. ISSN 0143-2095

Abstract

Research Summary:
Venture capital firms predominantly source investments from local networks within tight geographic bounds. Against that tendency, VCs are increasingly investing internationally—but with substantial heterogeneity across firms in extent, location, and success. We propose a mechanism to explain these patterns: the ties VCs form to immigrant entrepreneurs when investing domestically in immigrant-led startups. The knowledge and connections of those immigrants facilitate future VC investments in their homelands. We validate this idea through a study of U.S. VC in India. Firms invest in more Indian startups as their ties to Indian immigrants in the U.S. increase, particularly in the Indian region where immigrants originate and when the VC faces greater domestic competition. Such ties also enhance the odds of successful exit for the VC’s Indian investments.

Managerial Summary:
Why are venture capital firms increasingly investing in foreign startups, and why do these firms differ in the location and success of such international investments? We demonstrate that ties to immigrant entrepreneurs, established when investing domestically in their startups, provide VCs with knowledge and connections that facilitate future investments in the immigrants’ homelands. Using data on U.S. VC firms, we find that the more ties to Indian immigrant entrepreneurs a firm has, the more it subsequently invests in Indian startups. This effect is stronger when the VC firm faces stronger domestic competition (a push effect) and in the specific regions of India where the immigrants originate (a pull effect). Ties to Indian immigrants also help U.S. VCs make more successful investments in India.