Research on Value Investment of Start-up Companies

A Case Study of Tomboy X & Eridan

Abstract

This study investigates how investors can strengthen their value investment by applying the SWOT analysis in the Start-up company context. By conducting a constructive study with two cases, we develop a construction for qualitative and quantitative reference information with the help of the literature on Start-ups and value investment, the data on CB insights.com. This reference information for two Start-ups comprises funding data, investors, web traffic, news articles, patent data, and regulatory filings. This study also associates each information element to the internal factor assessment and external factor assessment of two Start-ups and accordingly develops metrics regarding the value investment. In addition, it demonstrates the different nature of two Start-ups for operating business to highlight the divergent value metrics. The key contributions of this study are the developed construction for qualitative and quantitative reference information and concluding that the founding team, market, product, business model, and competition are important factors for the development of Start-up company and investors' decision-making. The results of this study, and particularly the developed criterion, build avenues for further research on Start-ups and value investment.