This study aims to investigate the capital acquisition processes for startups, focusing on Japanese technology-based startups, through grants across various growth stages. Through exploratory factor analysis, it was revealed that grants obtained during the conception stage contribute to capital accumulation concerning entrepreneurial maturity and the development of business ideas. Conversely, during the conception-commercialization stage, grants are vital in capital accumulation related to team maturity, product commercialization, and industry legitimacy.<br>Considering Japan’s institutional environment, characterized by lower startup investment compared to the United States and a concentration of investment in seed-early stages, grants emerge as pivotal in resource acquisition for startups from the ideation to commercialization stages. Furthermore, grants appear to enhance entrepreneurial education in Japan’s less entrepreneurial environment, indicating a broader role beyond mere financial support.<br>While existing studies focused on grants’ signaling function and their impact on fundraising, our findings suggest that grants facilitate the acquisition of resource and institutional capital, potentially leading to advantageous fundraising in subsequent stages.

What kind of business model portfolio (BMP) leads to superior business performance? This study analyzes the conflicting and complementary relationships among business models (BMs) that cannot be observed in a single model by focusing on BMPs to answer this question. It is also expected that capital efficiency and corporate value, which a single model cannot explain, can be evaluated. This study explores the causality between BMPs and corporate value (Tobin’s Q) and performance (ROA) in the information and communication industry, where various BM combinations can be observed. The analysis was conducted with the panel data of 192 firms and 1653 firm-years of listed firms in the growth market. The analysis results of the panel data for the year 2000 indicate that the “cross-selling type,” combining various BMs in a few markets, leads to superior financial performance, while the “multimarket expansion type,” replicating a specific BM in
many markets, increases corporate value. Although the portfolio perspective of “value creation and acquisition structure” presented in this study relies on a resource-based view, it has rarely been studied. Thus, it could leave essential implications for strategic research.

The purpose of this paper is to propose an approach to analyze a firm's business model from the investor's perspective. Until now, much research has been conducted on business models from the perspective of managers. In recent years, the term business model has been included in accounting systems and has become an important concept for investors. However, until now, business model research has not been conducted from the investor's perspective. This paper emphasizes the significance of discussing business model evaluation from the investor's perspective and identifies key concepts in business model research from the investor's perspective by integrating research in the fields of finance and management. Through a review of existing studies, the paper points out the importance of five axes in investors' business model evaluation: business model content, market content, number of business models, number of markets, and synergy effects. Furthermore, we finally propose a research approach using this framework and an experimental approach. We point out the possibility of new research by using the method of experimentation, which has rarely been used in business model research.