The recent methods of start-up valuation seek to compensate for the lack of data necessary for a standard company valuation with additional information on the person of the entrepreneur and business project. None of the existing approaches, however, takes into consideration information about the environment in which the venture capitalists conduct their investments. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to develop an approach considering factors of the investee companies' environment. Such a modification will allow a more accurate estimate of the value of the projects investigated. The nature of this study is explorative. It relies on secondary data that was collected using interviews and semi-structured questionnaires in previous empirical studies. During the course of the modelling process, information on the quality of the investee companies' environment expressed is incorporated into the established start-up project valuations. Our original proposal consists of the modification of the β coefficient calculation for a given type of projects. An essential part of this modification is also a proposal for the extension of the project scoring characteristics to include expert estimates and, in the case of regression analysis, the inclusion of explanatory variables expressing the suitability of the environment for venture capital investments.

A well-functioning private equity and venture capital market is affected by a range of institutional aspects. This study intends to answer the question on what is the current tax and legal environment for private equity and venture capital investments in Czech Republic as previous studies have emphasized that a rather poor scope of resources available. Qualitative data with content analysis proved to be the best way to assess the institutional framework. Data collection methods cover a comparative analysis of scientific literature documents and reports, as well as primary data from interviews with experts in the industry. The results of both secondary and primary data analysis were categorized and serious gaps in the institutional framework were identified and discussed. Our results indicate that the issue of legal and organisational structure suitable for private equity and venture capital funds may be resolved through a national equivalent to a Limited Partnership which has already been adopted into Czech law. However, a tax handicap was identified implying that it is necessary to amend the tax legislation so that the legal regulation extends the tax exemption. Another amendment should then be directed towards eliminating or mitigating the barriers imposed on pension. We believe that our findings provide valuable implications for the government, banks, stock exchanges and venture capital industry while formulating new strategies how to increase the level of investments in this specific environment of Czech Republic.