Funding

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Funding is the act of providing resources to finance a need, program, or project. While this is usually in the form of money, it can also take the form of effort or time from an organization or company. Generally, this word is used when a firm uses its internal reserves to satisfy its necessity for cash, while the term financing is used when the firm acquires capital from external sources.[ citation needed ]

Contents

Sources of funding include credit, venture capital, donations, grants, savings, subsidies, and taxes. Funding methods such as donations, subsidies, and grants that have no direct requirement for return of investment are described as "soft funding" or "crowdfunding". Funding that facilitates the exchange of equity ownership in a company for capital investment via an online funding portal per the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (alternately, the "JOBS Act of 2012") (U.S.) is known as equity crowdfunding.

Funds can be allocated for either short-term or long-term purposes.

Economics

The flow of funds from lender to borrower Flow of Funds.svg
The flow of funds from lender to borrower
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Types of financing/funding

In economics funds are injected into the market as capital by lenders and taken as loans by borrowers. There are two ways in which the capital can end up at the borrower. The lender can lend the capital to a financial intermediary against interest. These financial intermediaries then reinvest the money against a higher rate. The use of financial intermediaries to finance operations is called indirect finance. A lender can also go to the financial markets to directly lend to a borrower. This method is called direct finance. [2]

Purpose of Funding

Research funding

Research funding is funding used for research-related purposes. It is most often used to describe funding in the fields of technology or social science. The allocation of funds are usually granted based on a per project, department, or institute basis stemming from scope of the research or project. Research funding can be split into commercial and non-commercial allocations. Research and development departments of a corporation normally provide commercial research funding. Whereas, non-commercial research funding is obtained from charities, research councils, or government agencies. [3] Organizations that require such funding normally have to go through competitive selections. Only those that have the most potential would be chosen. Funding is vital in ensuring the sustainability of certain projects.

Launch a business

Entrepreneurs with a business concept would want to accumulate all the necessary resources including capital to venture into a market. Funding is part of the process, as some businesses would require large start-up sums that individuals would not have. [4] These start-up funds are essential to kick-start a business idea, without it, entrepreneurs would not have the ability to carry out their concepts in the business world.

Uses on investment

Fund management companies gather pools of money from many investors and use them to purchase securities. These funds are managed by professional investment managers, which may generate higher returns with reduced risks by asset diversification. [5] The size of these funds could be as little as a few millions or as much as multi billions. The purpose of these funding activities is mainly aiming to pursue individual or organization profits.

Methods of Funding

Government Grants

Government could allocate funds itself or through government agencies to projects that benefit the public through a selection process to students or researchers and even organizations. At least two external peer-reviewers and an internal research award committee review each application. The research awards committee would meet some time to discuss shortlisted applications. A further shortlist and ranking is made. Projects are funded and applicants are informed. [6] Econometric evidence shows public grants for firms can create additionality in jobs, sales, value added, innovation and capital. For example, this was shown to be the case for large R&D grants, [7] as well as smaller public grants for the tourism firms [8] or small and medium sized firms in general. [9]

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding exists in mainly two types, reward-based crowdfunding and equity-based crowdfunding. In the former, small firms could pre-sell a product or service to start a business whereas in the latter, backers buy a certain amount of shares of a firm in exchange of money. [10] As for reward-based crowdfunding, project creators would set a funding target and deadline. Anyone who is interested can pledge on the projects. Projects must reach its targeted amount in order for it to be carried out. Once the projects ended with enough funds, projects creators would have to make sure that they fulfill their promises by the intended timeline and delivery their products or services. [11]

Raise from investors

To raise capital, you require funds from investors who are interested in the investments. You have to present those investors with high-return projects. By displaying high-level potentials of the projects, investors would be more attracted to put their money into those projects. After a certain amount of time, usually in a year's time, rewards of the investment will be shared with investors. This makes investors happy and they may continue to invest further. [12] If returns do not meet the intended level, this could reduce the willingness of investors to invest their money into the funds. Hence, the amounts of financial incentives are highly weighted determinants to ensure the funding remains at a desirable level. Venture Capital (VC) is a subdivision of Private Equity wherein external investors fund small-scale startups that have high growth potential in the long run. Investors receive a portion of the company’s equity in return for the money invested by them. The amount of money that a Venture capital firm can raise is predominantly built on the Principal-agent relationship between the Limited Partners and the Venture Capital Firm. [13]

Self-Organized Funding Allocation

Self-organized funding allocation (SOFA) is a method of distributing funding for scientific research. In this system, each researcher is allocated an equal amount of funding, and is required to anonymously allocate a fraction of their funds to the research of others. Proponents of SOFA argue that it would result in similar distribution of funding as the present grant system, but with less overhead. [14] In 2016, a test pilot of SOFA began in the Netherlands. [15]

Securing loans

A company or an individual may secure a loan to get access to capital. Often borrowers must use a secured loan where assets are pledged as collateral. If the borrower defaults, ownership of the collateral reverts to the lender. Both tangible and intangible assets can be used to secure loans. [16] The use of IP as collateral in IP-backed finance transactions is the subject of a report series at the World Intellectual Property Organization. [17]

Withdrawal of funding

Withdrawal of funding, or defunding, occurs when funding previously given to an organisation ceases, especially in relation to Governmental funding. [18] Defunding could be as a result of a disagreement or failure to meet set objectives. An example that explains the withdrawal of funding in this case is that of President Trump's decision to stop funding the World Health Organization (WHO) over alleged Coronavirus mismanagement. [19]

See also

Related Research Articles

In the field of finance, private equity (PE) is capital stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public. Private equity is offered instead to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the companies. In casual usage, "private equity" can refer to these investment firms rather than the companies that they invest in.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Venture capital</span> Form of private-equity financing

Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which have demonstrated high growth. Venture capital firms or funds invest in these early-stage companies in exchange for equity, or an ownership stake. Venture capitalists take on the risk of financing risky start-ups in the hopes that some of the companies they support will become successful. Because startups face high uncertainty, VC investments have high rates of failure. Start-ups are usually based on an innovative technology or business model and they are usually from high technology industries, such as information technology (IT), clean technology or biotechnology.

An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of investments include equity, debt, securities, real estate, infrastructure, currency, commodity, token, derivatives such as put and call options, futures, forwards, etc. This definition makes no distinction between the investors in the primary and secondary markets. That is, someone who provides a business with capital and someone who buys a stock are both investors. An investor who owns stock is a shareholder.

Seed money, also known as seed funding or seed capital, is a form of securities offering in which an investor puts capital in a startup company in exchange for an equity stake or convertible note stake in the company. The term seed suggests that this is a very early investment, meant to support the business until it can generate cash of its own, or until it is ready for further investments. Seed money options include friends and family funding, seed venture capital funds, angel funding, and crowdfunding.

In economics and accounting, the cost of capital is the cost of a company's funds, or from an investor's point of view is "the required rate of return on a portfolio company's existing securities". It is used to evaluate new projects of a company. It is the minimum return that investors expect for providing capital to the company, thus setting a benchmark that a new project has to meet.

Social venture capital is a form of investment funding that is usually funded by a group of social venture capitalists or an impact investor to provide seed-funding investment, usually in a for-profit social enterprise, in return to achieve an outsized gain in financial return while delivering social impact to the world. There are various organizations, such as Venture Philanthropy (VP) companies and nonprofit organizations, that deploy a simple venture capital strategy model to fund nonprofit events, social enterprises, or activities that deliver a high social impact or a strong social causes for their existence. There are also regionally focused organizations that target a specific region of the world, to help build and support the local community in a social cause.

Film finance is an aspect of film production that occurs during the development stage prior to pre-production, and is concerned with determining the potential value of a proposed film.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real estate investing</span> Buying and selling real estate for profit

Real estate investing involves the purchase, management and sale or rental of real estate for profit. Someone who actively or passively invests in real estate is called a real estate entrepreneur or a real estate investor. Some investors actively develop, improve or renovate properties to make more money from them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Financial market participants</span>

There are two basic financial market participant distinctions, investors versus speculators and institutional versus retail. Action in financial markets by central banks is usually regarded as intervention rather than participation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alternative investment</span> Investments other than stocks, bonds and cash

An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding capital stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and Tax Receivable Agreements. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.

A series A is the name typically given to a company's first significant round of venture capital financing. It can be followed by the word round, investment or financing. The name refers to the class of preferred stock sold to investors in exchange for their investment. It is usually the first series of stock after the common stock and common stock options issued to company founders, employees, friends and family and angel investors.

Impact investing refers to investments "made into companies, organizations, and funds with the intention to generate a measurable, beneficial social or environmental impact alongside a financial return". At its core, impact investing is about an alignment of an investor's beliefs and values with the allocation of capital to address social and/or environmental issues.

Social enterprise lending is a form of social finance which refers to the practice of offering loans and other financing vehicles below current market rates to social enterprises and other organisations pursuing social goals. This is often referred to as "patient lending," or financing with "soft" terms. Patient lending recognises that projects with social outcomes often reach profitability later than commercial projects. Softening the terms of a loan means that a social lender may offer provisions such as longer loan terms, lower interest rates and repayment "holidays" where capital and interest repayments are not due until the project is profitable. Social lenders might also offer small grants as part of an investment package.

Entrepreneurial finance is the study of value and resource allocation, applied to new ventures. It addresses key questions which challenge all entrepreneurs: how much money can and should be raised; when should it be raised and from whom; what is a reasonable valuation of the startup; and how should funding contracts and exit decisions be structured.

Crowdfunding is a process in which individuals or groups pool money and other resources to fund projects initiated by other people or organizations "without standard financial intermediaries." Crowdfunded projects may include creative works, products, nonprofit organizations, supporting entrepreneurship, businesses, or donations for a specific purpose. Crowdfunding usually takes place via an online portal that handles the financial transactions involved and may also provide services such as media hosting, social networking, and facilitating contact with contributors. It has increased since the passage of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.

MicroVentures is an equity crowdfunding website that offers investments in early stage companies. It connects accredited investors with startups, businesses and services looking to raise funds or participate in select secondary market opportunities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assetz Capital</span>

Assetz Capital is a British company which makes property-secured loans to businesses. It was established in 2012 as a peer-to-peer or "marketplace" lender which allowed private and institutional investors to lend money directly to small businesses (SMEs) and property developers. In December 2022 it became solely funded by institutional capital for new lending.

Equity crowdfunding is the online offering of private company securities to a group of people for investment and therefore it is a part of the capital markets. Because equity crowdfunding involves investment into a commercial enterprise, it is often subject to securities and financial regulation. Equity crowdfunding is also referred to as crowdinvesting, investment crowdfunding, or crowd equity.

Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over US$34 billion was raised worldwide by crowdfunding.

Profit and Loss Sharing refers to Sharia-compliant forms of equity financing such as mudarabah and musharakah. These mechanisms comply with the religious prohibition on interest on loans that most Muslims subscribe to. Mudarabah (مضاربة) refers to "trustee finance" or passive partnership contract, while Musharakah refers to equity participation contract. Other sources include sukuk and direct equity investment as types of PLS.

References

  1. ↑ Kaschny, Martin (2018). Innovation and Transformation. Springer Verlag. ISBN   978-3-319-78524-0.
  2. ↑ Mishkin, Frederic (2012). The Economics of Money, Banking and Financial Markets (Global, Tenth ed.). Pearson Education Limited. p. 68. ISBN   978-0273765738.
  3. ↑ Imperial College London(2014) Types of research funding [Online] Available at: http://www3.imperial.ac.uk/researchsupport/funderinformation/typesofresearchfunding (Accessed:15 October 2014)
  4. ↑ "Set up a business". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  5. ↑ "Mutual Funds | Investor.gov". www.investor.gov. Retrieved 2023-08-24.
  6. ↑ Stroke Association(2009) Research funding process [Online] Available at: http://www.stroke.org.uk/research/research-funding-process (Accessed: 21 October 2014)
  7. ↑ Howell, Sabrina T. (2017). "Financing Innovation: Evidence from R&D Grants". American Economic Review. 107 (4): 1136–1164. doi: 10.1257/aer.20150808 .
  8. ↑ Srhoj, Stjepan; Vitezić, Vanja; Walde, Janette (2021). "Do small public grants boost tourism firms' performance?". Tourism Economics. 28 (6): 1435–1452. doi: 10.1177/1354816621994436 .
  9. ↑ Dvouletý, Ondřej; Srhoj, Stjepan; Pantea, Smaranda (2020). "Public SME grants and firm performance in European Union: A systematic review of empirical evidence". Small Business Economics. 57: 243–263. doi: 10.1007/s11187-019-00306-x .
  10. ↑ Clifford, C.(2014) Crowdfunding Generates More Than $60,000 an Hour (Infographic) [Online] Available at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/234051 (Accessed: 22 October 2014)
  11. ↑ Kickstarter, Inc.(2010) "Seven things to know about Kickstarter" [Online] Available at: https://www.kickstarter.com/hello?ref=footer (Accessed: 23 October 2014)
  12. ↑ Raise Capital(2011) "Business talk - How to raise capital for a hedge fund" [Online] Available at: http://www.raise-capital.com/raise-capital-for-hedge-fund.php (Accessed: 24 October 2014)
  13. ↑ Raza, M. Tanzeem; Natarajan, P. (January 2023). "Factors Driving Venture Capital Investments in India". Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies. 9 (1): 62–79. doi:10.1177/23939575221139944. ISSN   2393-9575. S2CID   256504532.
  14. ↑ Bollen, Johan (8 August 2018). "Who would you share your funding with?". Nature. 560 (7717): 143. Bibcode:2018Natur.560..143B. doi: 10.1038/d41586-018-05887-3 . PMID   30089925.
  15. ↑ Coelho, Andre. "NETHERLANDS: A radical new way do fund science | BIEN" . Retrieved 2 June 2019.
  16. ↑ Security interests in intellectual property. Toshiyuki Kono. Singapore. 2017. ISBN   978-981-10-5415-0. OCLC   1001337977.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  17. ↑ "Launch of new WIPO report series on unlocking IP-Backed Finance at Singapore's IP Week, 26 August 2021 – Sharing the Singapore Country Report". www.wipo.int. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
  18. ↑ "The definition of defund". www.dictionary.com. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  19. ↑ Cohen, Joshua. "Trump's Decision To Defund WHO For Coronavirus Response: Throwing The Baby Out With The Bathwater". Forbes. Retrieved 2021-07-08.
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