Final Project on Impact Assessment of Startup Bangladesh Portfolio Companies: A Study of 21 Government-Backed Startups in Bangladesh

Abstract

This paper presents a quantitative evaluation of lifetime performance and contributions of 21 portfolio companies funded by Startup Bangladesh Limited (SBL), which is a state-based venture capital program in Bangladesh. The research estimates employment creation, capital mobilization, government contribution, beneficiary outreach and the choice of environmental indicators based on structured survey data collected directly on portfolio companies (inception to present). Descriptive analysis indicates that the portfolio has previously employed 7,389 active employees and currently supports 31,346 unique people to have been employed since the inception thus starting ups claim to have created 1,296,898 jobs themselves. The companies have spent a total of BDT 23.03 billion of funds they have raised as well as making contributions of BDT 2.09 billion as government payments (VAT, taxes, duties). The response rate among beneficiaries is also high, but the count of beneficiaries differs greatly by industry (i.e., mass reach in digital media), so sector-specific reporting and outlier handling is used to promote comparability. The results give empirical data on the catalytic effect of the role of public venture emerging economy setting.