Tango and cash: Entrepreneurial finance and venture capital in Argentina

This paper is the first to empirically map entrepreneurial finance in Argentina, by studying in-depth three different types of actors: entrepreneurs, formal private equity and venture capital (PE/VC) funds and angel investors. Through separate surveys, the operational characteristics of these actors are profiled and, whenever possible, systematically compared to US, European and Canadian data. Empirical evidence suggests that: (1) it takes on average more money for the Argentinian entrepreneur to start a de novo venture than for his/ her counterparts in the US; (2) operational parameters of formal PE/VC funds are in line with international standards; and (3) Argentinian angels invest on average substantially higher amounts per venture than their counterparts in other countries, being also younger than the international average.