Start-ups, bearers of innovation in globalizing environment and their valuation

Abstract

The paper presents chosen methods of star-up valuation. In the context of globalization, innovations are clearly bearers of a potential enterprises’ competitiveness, start-ups are consider as their most important sources. Start-ups are mainly based on the human capital designed to create novel products, services, processes, and bring them to the markets. The basic precondition for meaningful growth of start-ups is favourable business environment (legal and administrative point of view) and framework supporting innovative entrepreneurship including access to external sources of financing. Start-ups are investments with a significant degree of uncertainty, lacking any characteristics pointing to their financial and economic performance from a historical perspective, which restricts the use of “traditional” business valuation methods. It should also be pointed out that, as there is no uniform valuation for maturity enterprises, there is no uniform procedure for valuing of a business even in the case of start-ups. The presented approaches take into account decisive criteria of start-ups, including a life cycle of a start-up in which an investment is made, and other factors affecting valuation. Their use from a theoretical point of view is generalized, the practical use is already determined by specific conditions under which the valuation takes place.