Influence of External Funding and Intellectual Property Protection on the Success of Technological Ventures: Case study

This research builds on recent academic research on external funding and intellectual property protection. The objective of this research is to evaluate the influence of external funding and intellectual property protection on the success of three South African technological ventures. A case study method was used to collect and analyze the data. Aspiring technology entrepreneurs and growing technological companies may use the case study results to their advantage with regard to managing intellectual property protection and obtaining external funding. The pecking order theory for external funding was tested and confirmed. The research cases use patents, trade secrets and trademarks to protect their inventions; intellectual property protection gives them competitive advantage over their rivals. Intellectual property protection, specifically patents, had a positive influence in helping the research cases to secure capital from government programs. It was found that external funding and intellectual property protection positively influence the success of a technological venture.