Hello and welcome to this tutorial on venture capital and private equity research
with S&P Capital IQ.
This video will cover a brief introduction to venture capital and private equity
and an overview and demonstration on how to use S&P Capital IQ,
including how to create an account and how to locate VC and PE information.
To begin, it might be helpful to define venture capital and private equity.
Both refer to investment opportunities in the private capital market.
However, there are some key differences that are worth noting.
Venture capital is financing typically given to startup companies or small businesses
with high growth potential.
In contrast, private equity refers to capital invested in mature companies
that are already established and not publicly traded.
Unfortunately financial information for startups and private companies can
be challenging to find
because they're not required to file audited financial reports to
the Securities and Exchange Commission.
However, S&P Capital IQ compiles VC and PE information on companies and investment firms
that may help you with your research.
So here is a little bit of information about what S&P Capital IQ has to offer.
S&P Capital IQ is a database that is used by professional and individual investors
and provides extensive company and valuation information
as well as data on venture capital and private equity transactions.
Their coverage of private capital markets begins in 1999
and includes domestic and international companies.
Due to the inherent lack of public disclosures surrounding the private capital market,
S&P Capital IQ employs a multitude of sources and techniques to maintain their database.
According to their posted research methodology,
S&P Capital IQ includes a complete review and synthesis of publicly disclosed sources
such as the SEC filings, press releases, and news articles.
They also work directly with sponsors to verify existing information
or gain access to details that have not been publicly disclosed.
To get started,
visit the Parrish Library homepage at lib.purdue.edu/libraries/mgmt for management.
From there, click on the list of databases link,
which will take you to our A-Z List of Databases filtered by business, finance, and economics.
You'll find S&P Capital IQ on this list.
If you are off campus make sure to use the database link from this list because it will
take you through the Libraries proxy server.
In other words, don't try and access S&P Capital IQ from Google
because you'll have issues logging in.
Please note, too, that you will need to create your own account with this resource.
To create an account simply click on the New User link on the top
right corner of the homepage.
Input your Purdue email address and click Submit.
You'll then receive an email that will prompt you to complete your account registration.
For this video we will use The RealReal, Inc. for our company search example.
This company was founded in 2011 by Julie Wainright, a Purdue graduate,
and her company went public fairly recently on June 28, 2019.
Thus we'll be able to see public financials,
as well as private equity and venture capital data in The RealReal's company profile.
In S&P Capital IQ we can use the top search bar to search for our company,
in this case The RealReal, Inc.
This will take us to the tearsheet which provides quite a bit of useful information
right off the bat,
including basic company facts,
business description,
primary industry classification,
current and pending investors,
prior investors,
as well as stock quote and financial information following their initial public offering.
On the left menu there are also detailed sections that I encourage you to explore.
Of particular interest
to VC and PE research are the sections on transactions
and investors.
The M&A/Private Placements link, for example, provides a table of associated M&A
and private placements along with buybacks and spinoffs.
The Private Ownership section shows a table of all current, pending, and prior investors,
which is a more detailed version of what we see here on the tearsheet.
So let's take a closer look at the M&A private placements transactions.
This table includes the announced and closed date of transaction,
transaction type, and in this case these are all private placements,
a list of buyers and investors,
and then the rounds and round type information.
Round information may be useful because it can tell you where the company was in
its lifecycle when they received funding.
Series A and Series B are funding rounds for earlier stage companies,
while Series C rounds and up are for later stage or more established companies.
To see more information on the specific transaction click on the announced date
which will give you a synopsis of the deal,
financing details,
and more information on the investors and buyers.
If you're curious about this buyer's other investments,
you can click on the company name
to navigate to their tearsheet to see more information.
S&P Capital IQ also provides a Help page if you have questions about what terms
mean or how to use this database to find what you're looking for.
Let's say that under transaction details I don't know what "convertible equity" means.
I can click "Help."
Here we can input "convertible equity" and click the search icon.
Then select the definition entry for private placement,
and the definition is listed here.
On the main page you can also ask a question directly to S&P Capital IQ
under the Contact Us drop down menu,
or contact your Parrish librarians.
Thank you for watching this tutorial on venture capital and private equity research
using S&P Capital IQ.
If you have questions about this database, please contact us at the Parrish Library
or submit a question using the Ask a Librarian chat service.