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Venture capital plays an important role during a start-up´s development from a new venture to a mature company. The objective of this thesis was to review existing literature on venture capital decision-making criteria, add a new theory called effectuation, i.e. the process of non-predictive reasoning, to the VC decision-making process and transfer findings from previous studies with entrepreneurs and business angels to the context of the formal venture capital industry. Within formal VC, special attention was given to the renewable energy domain. Thereby, the research focused on the effects of predictive and non-predictive (effectual) decision-making logics on venture capitalists´ average investment size, investment performance and on possible differences between expert and novice investors. The results from the conducted survey indicated a significant expert-novice difference regarding their emphasis on effectual decision-making logics. Furthermore, and contrary to theoretical expectations, the findings suggest that investors with a higher emphasis on effectual logic are likely to invest larger average amounts in new ventures. A significant connection between predictive and non-predictive logics and investment performance could not be found in this study.

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Enzo Wälchli has completed his studies in accounting & finance (M.A. HSG, University of St. Gallen) and international management (CEMS-MIM, University of St. Gallen & ESADE Business School Barcelona) in 2013 and has since been working in the field of corporate strategy and business development within a globally active industrial corporation.

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