‘Show me the money’. Market evolution in entrepreneurial risk capital: from enabler to constraint?

Based on a conceptualisation of the entrepreneurial process, we take a thought examination approach to examine current changes in the role and functioning of the entrepreneurial risk capital market, which we understand in the broad sense of all agents (including business angels, equity crowdfunding investors, accelerators, corporate venture capital, government (public sector) venture capital and institutional venture capital) involved in the provision of risk capital to entrepreneurial ventures. Specifically, we address the following question: What are the implications of the pattern of evolution of the entrepreneurial risk capital market for the development and cultural, social and economic impact of the entrepreneurial process? Based on an analysis of current trends in the market, the spatialities and temporalities of which are being transformed as new investors enter the market, new (digital) technologies are introduced and it becomes increasingly internationalised, we identify five issues shaping the development of the risk capital market – democratisation, compartmentalisation, internationalisation, financialization and mythification. We conclude that “entrepreneurial risk capital” may be more a constraint on rather than an enabler of the entrepreneurship process.