Venture fund: do realities of legal precedents in ukraine correspond to global development tendencies

Abstract

Problem setting. The current state of Ukrainian legislation and the insufficiency of scientific analysis at the level of legal doctrine do not create prerequisites for a unified approach in understanding the essence of venture fund’s legal nature. There is still unresolved problem of understanding the essence of such a fund, which involves not only the analysis of legal precedents, legislation and legal doctrine in Ukraine, but also in economically developed countries (for example, Great Britain and the USA). Analysis of recent researches and publications. The regulatory framework that currently ensures the creation and operation of venture funds in Ukraine does not correspond to global tendencies in the development of venture industry. The doctrinal works of domestic and foreign experts, such as H. M. Sitchenko, R. V. Tarnavskyi, D. S. Kleinberger, S. N. Kaplan, B. A. Sensoy and others, testify to a different understanding of the essence of the studied structure in Ukraine and countries where relations of venture investment into innovation activity have received much greater development. Purpose of the research is to clarify the essence of the venture fund according to the legislation and legal doctrine of Ukraine, the USA and Great Britain. Аrticle’s main body. The provisions of the Law of Ukraine “On Collective Investment Institutions” have a positive impact on the sphere of investment activity, since they: 1) regulate a specific area of its activity; 2) establish the legal position of certain institutional investors, asset management companies, the procedure for placing investments and partially, the possibility of establishing certain restrictions by state authorities in this area in order to prevent violations of the rights of some investors and investments’ recipients. However, there is one big disadvantage – the specified Law does not contain provisions regarding: 1) the obligation of venture funds to invest into innovative companies; 2) mandatory terms of the venture investment agreement; 3) characteristics for the recipients of venture investments; 4) a special procedure for the withdrawal from the company by the venture investor. It is currently impossible to use in Ukraine the development of American and British law regarding legal guaranteeing of contractual relations in the form of partnerships, taking into account the current situation of the legislation on collective investment institutions in terms of venture funds activities. However, the existing civil mechanisms have the potential to meet the generally accepted global standards of regulating the relevant field and ensuring a uniform practice of structuring relations between investors and the asset management company of the collective investment institution in the form of a venture fund. Сonclusions and prospects for the development. Venture funds created in Ukraine do not correspond to the understanding of their essence and structure in Great Britain and the USA, and even the nature of corporate venture funds, which is enshrined in domestic legislation on the regulation of joint investment relations. At the same time, Ukrainian regulatory provision for the legal status of venture funds and legal precedents regarding their creation and operation is being built without considering the world traditions and advanced economies, which already have a long history of using such structures. Accordingly, the tendencies and challenges of the world economy are not taken into account that results to the ignorance of economic principles for concluding transactions, which are characteristic for the field of venture investment and innovation activity.