After investment decisions have been made, venture capital firms spend significant time and resources to increase the value of their portfolio companies. Nevertheless, what kind of activities they engage in, to what extent this add value and in what ways is on the other hand less clear. This study aims to explore actual value-adding activities that venture capital firms engage in among the portfolio companies they manage. Given the limited empirical evidence and theory on the value-adding processes that venture capital firms engage in, we adopt a single case embedded design with multiple units of analysis (portfolio companies), thus providing an in-depth investigation of both the venture capital firm and the portfolio companies. Showing how the venture capital firm furthers value creation at a strategic, operational and relational level, we contribute to a deeper understanding into the value-added services provided by venture capital firms to their portfolio companies.
