CHAPTER 3•FUNDING SOURCES FOR BUSINESSES ON THE “GROW” 59
SBICs accounted for up to one third of all venture financing, but by
1990, the percentage had fallen to only 5%.
Venture Capital
If entrepreneurial firms are the engines of the U.S. economy, then ven-
ture capital is the high-octane fuel that powers many of the most prom-
ising among them. It is, of course, a source of funding limited to a
small and select group of entrepreneurs but, because venture capital
has figured so prominently in the success of U.S. companies, it is con-
sidered by many to be the premier financial resource for entrepreneurs.
More than 33% of the companies that went public (made an IPO of
their stock) between 1991 and 2000 were able to achieve critical mass
rapidly because they ...