tailieunhanh - The Social Business Initiative: Promoting Social Investment Funds

They fill a gap: as BAs do not face the transaction costs faced by venture capitalists, they are able to conduct smaller investments. Studies show that, while Business Angels invest across the full range of company stages, they are the main source of funding when the deal size is under USD 1m, and they participate in a higher number of rounds of seed and start up capital than venture capital funds. Mason and Harrison note that the informal venture capital market is the largest external source of early stage risk capital, dwarfing the institutional venture capital market. | Public Consultation Staff working paper The Social Business Initiative Promoting Social Investment Funds Important notice this document is a staff working paper of D. G. Internal Market and Services for discussion and consultation purposes. It does not purport to represent or pre-judge any formal proposal of the Commission. Commission européenne B-1049 Bruxelles Europese Commissie B-1049 Brussel - Belgium. Telephone 32-2 299 11 11. http internal_market 1. Social Business - An Overview . Introduction The Single Market Act of 13th April 2011 outlined the importance of what can be termed social businesses . Stakeholder responses to the Single Market Act confirmed priority work to better identify such businesses and their needs so as to more effectively support them throughout the EU. For this reason a social business initiative was announced. A Social Business Communication on this initiative is planned for the autumn setting out the Commission s general conclusions next steps and launching further debate. The present consultation supports the Communication but is more narrowly focused. One of the priority initiatives identified in the Single Market Act of April was the setting up of a European framework facilitating the development of social investment funds so as to contribute to a favourable financing framework for social businesses. The present consultation seeks further input on this cluster of issues to assist the Commission services in determining the best way forward. It does not prejudge the autumn Communication which will cover a wider range of issues and actions. . What is social business Social businesses can be defined as targeting social ethical or environmental goals as their primary corporate objective. They place the achievement of social impacts above the delivery of financial returns. For this reason they can be seen as hybrid businesses which lie between traditional for-profit firms and purely philanthropic endeavours with no .