Venture capital certification and customer response: Evidence from P2P lending platforms

Abstract This paper examines whether the certification effect of VCs extends to firm's potential customers, and whether, by certifying firms' values to potential customers, VCs provide value to firms. Using weekly trading data from P2P lending platforms in China, we find that the amount of loans facilitated and the number of lenders increase significantly by 25.7% and 49.3%, respectively, immediately after announcements that P2P lending platforms obtain VC investment. We find that this certification effect increases with measures of VC reputation and measures of information asymmetry between P2P lending platforms and potential customers. A difference-in-differences analysis provides consistent results, which are robust after controlling for the effects of news, advertising, and funding. We also document that VC-backed platforms are less likely to default than non-VC-backed platforms. This result provides indirect evidence that VC backing has long-term benefits beyond the news and advertising effects.