The drivers of the valuations of entrepreneurial ventures are an important issue in entrepreneurial finance, but related research is fragmented. The theoretical perspectives and the drivers highlighted by previous studies differ based on the financial milestones during a venture’s lifecycle in which the valuation is performed (e.g., venture capital investments, initial public offerings, acquisitions). The introduction of new digital financing channels (e.g., crowdfunding, initial coin offerings) that allow retail investors to directly invest in entrepreneurial ventures challenge our understanding of the drivers of valuation. This change has also increased the diversity in the sequence of financial milestones that ventures go through, with important implications for valuation. We conduct a systematic literature review and develop a map highlighting how and why the drivers of venture valuations and their underlying theoretical lenses vary across the different milestones that ventures go through. The map allows us to outline new promising avenues for future research.

创业企业估值的驱动因素是创业金融中的一个重要问题，但相关研究较为零散。先前研究强调的理论观点和驱动因素根据风险投资生命周期中进行估值的财务里程碑（例如，风险资本投资、首次公开募股、收购）而有所不同。允许散户投资者直接投资于创业企业的新数字融资渠道（例如众筹、首次代币发行）的引入挑战了我们对估值驱动因素的理解。这一变化也增加了企业所经历的财务里程碑序列的多样性，对估值产生了重要影响。我们进行了系统的文献回顾，并绘制了一张地图，突出了风险估值的驱动因素及其基本理论视角如何以及为什么在风险投资经历的不同里程碑中有所不同。该地图使我们能够为未来的研究勾勒出新的有希望的途径。