How do business angels and venture capitalists differ on driving innovation in the FinTech industry?

I analyzed how private equity, particularly angel groups and venture capitalists, influence, and drive innovation in fintech ventures while realizing successful exits. I investigated whether the benefits generated by private equity investments differ between angel groups and venture capitalists. To do so, I tracked investments in roughly 1500 FinTech ventures that received a private equity capital injection during their lifecycle. Using patents’ number and forward citations as a proxy for innovation, the analysis I carried out demonstrates that venture capitalists positively impact the innovation of the start-ups in which they invest. The outcome suggests that, besides the capital injection, both venture capitalists and business angels provide value-added services to ventures. Also, thanks to the comparative analysis, the thesis points out that the venture capitalists and angels’ group are equivalent in fostering innovation.