VentureSouq and VC’s Growing Role in Sustainability

Venture Capital (VC) is a relatively young form of investing, being an asset class largely legitimized in the 1970s. VC is a type of funding provided to startups which often don’t have access to bank loans due to their risky nature; thus, VC provides this riskier capital, for a startups’ high growth potential with above-average returns and partial ownership. Its development can be credited to Georges Doriot, a pioneer in the field and the “father of venture capital”, who formed the first modern VC firm back in 1946: the American Research and Development Corporation (ARDC). Doriot formed ARDC with his colleagues: MIT President, Karl Compton; Massachusetts Investors Trust chairman, Merrill Griswold; and Federal Reserve Bank of Boston president, Ralph Flanders. ARDC’s first investment of US$70,000 was in 1957