Financing technological entrepreneurship: the role of strategic alliances in procuring early-stage seed capital

A significant gap exists in early-stage seed capital for technology-based new ventures. This article reports the results of a survey of embryonic firms in the southwestern United States, which received significant amounts of their initial capital from strategic partners. High levels of satisfaction with the alliance were reported by the capital recipients and the alliances tended to evolve into long-term relationships. The alliances were set up to gain access to risk capital as well as complementary tangible and intangible assets such as embodied technologies, patents, know-how, and distribution networks.