B2218 - PRIVATE EQUITY, VENTURE CAPITAL AND FINTECH FINANCING

Conoscenze e abilità da conseguire

The course tries to discover how special financial intermediaries, venture capitalists and private equity investors, finance companies belonging to different stages of their life-cycle, starting from the very beginning (startup and early stage) to a more mature phase (i.e. expansion, mature age, etc.) and discuss the role of Financial Technology (FinTech) in changing the financial industry and reduce the information frictions to help close financing gaps existing in the economy.

Contenuti

Private equity is an increasingly important part of the financial landscape. The global private equity sector grew from $870 billion in 2004 to over $4.7 trillion at the beginning of 2021. Their enthusiasm of investors –even in hard times of pandemic – for this asset class is understandable: pension funds, government funds, and university endowments are in many cases facing financial shortfalls and are desperate for high returns. Then there is the global dimension. Private equity originated in the U.S. and for much of its history, the industry was concentrated in that nation and the United Kingdom. Over the past fifteen years, however, private equity has become much more global. Not only has the capital disbursed in continental Europe and Asia increased sharply, but also emerging markets (especially China and India) have become far more important in the private equity landscape. This course focuses on the understanding of private equity & venture capital business overall, starting from the perspective of investors, and moving to entrepreneurs. We then move to finTech that covers digital innovations and technology-enabled business model innovations in the financial sector. Such innovations can disrupt existing industry structures and blur industry boundaries, facilitate strategic disintermediation, revolutionize how existing firms create and deliver products and services, provide new gateways for entrepreneurship, democratize access to financial services, but also create significant privacy, regulatory and law enforcement challenges. Examples of innovations that are central to FinTech today include cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, new digital advisory and trading systems, artificial intelligence and machine learning, peer-to-peer lending, equity crowdfunding and mobile payment systems.

Testi/Bibliografia

papers from international scientific journals and slides on Virtuale.

Metodi didattici

Frontal teaching. Theoretical Models will be discussed and developed in class. Particular attention will be devoted to the understanding of model background and empirical implications as well as discussion on policy issues.

Modalità di verifica e valutazione dell'apprendimento

Final written examination.

The written exam aims at testing the acquired knowledge of the theoretical concepts and the ability to interpret estimation results in the light of the underlying theory.

The written exam is closed book and lasts 1 hour and 15 minutes. It is divided in two parts:

• True , False, Uncertain (answer with concise motivation): 6 questions, 30 points
• Open question (formal answer to theoretical question): 1 question, 30 points.
  

In case online exams will be envisaged by the University of Bologna, the structure of the written exam is the same. The exam will be run through Zoom and Exams Online (EOL). Detailed instructions on how to manage and hand in the online exam are available on the course page on the VIRTUALE platform.

The maximum possible score is 30 cum laude, in case all anwers are correct, complete and formally rigorous.

The grade is graduated as follows:

<18 failed
18-23 sufficient
24-27 good
28-30 very good
30 e lode excellent

Strumenti a supporto della didattica

cases studies will be assigned in class and discussed.

Orario di ricevimento

Consulta il sito web di Laura Bottazzi