Venture capital is widely viewed as “good” capital: it takes risks, promotes innovation, actively¹ engages with company management and often invests for the long term.

风险投资被普遍视为“好”资本：它承担风险、推动创新、积极参与公司管理，而且在投资时往往着眼长期。

As the US National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) says in its 2016 yearbook: “Venture capital has enabled the United States to support its entrepreneurial talent and appetite by turning ideas and basic science into products and services that are the envy of the world.”

正如美国国家风投协会(US National Venture Capital Association)在其2016年年鉴中所言：“风险投资将创意和基础科学转化为令全球艳羡的产品和服务，让美国能够支持它的创业人才和创业意愿。”

Of the 1,339 US public companies founded since 1974, 42 per cent have been backed by venture capital. Those VC-funded companies now account for 63 per cent of market capitalisation and 85 per cent of research and development among that post-1974 cohort.

在自1974年以来创建的1339家美国上市公司中，42%曾得到风险投资的支持，这些公司如今占到1339家公司总市值的63%，研发的85%。

Three of the country’s five biggest companies by market capitalisation today were funded by venture capital at an early stage: Apple, Google and Microsoft. The venture capital industry remains² just as ambitious to fund a new generation of start-up tech companies.

在美国如今市值最高的5家公司中，有3家曾在创建初期获得风投的融资：苹果(Apple)、谷歌(Google)和微软(Microsoft)。风投行业仍在雄心勃勃地为新一代初创科技企业融资。

While established companies in public markets are returning money to shareholders³ on a massive scale, venture capitalists in private markets are still investing in the future. Publicly listed US companies bought back $568.9bn of shares over the past year. That compares with the $59.1bn that venture capital funds invested in 2015, the second highest level in history.

在老牌上市公司大规模向股东返还资本的同时，活跃于私募市场的风险投资人仍在为未来投资。过去一年，美国上市公司回购了5689亿美元的股票。与此相比，风投基金2015年的投资为591亿美元，为历史第二高。

“The public markets have never been shorter term. The time horizon for private markets has never been longer,” says one leading Silicon⁴ Valley venture capitalist.

一位硅谷领先风险投资人表示：“公开市场的投资期从来没有更短过。私募市场的投资期也从未更长过。”

At first glance, it would seem that Europe could desperately⁵ do with more of that kind of patient, risk-taking capital to spur innovation. As a recent paper from the French prime minister’s office noted⁶, France — and by extension Europe — needs more “yollies” (young leading innovators). Younger firms tend to have higher growth potential, create more jobs and raise productivity. They help renew a country’s economic fabric⁷.

乍一看，欧洲似乎更加迫切需要那种耐心、承担风险的资金来刺激创新。正如法国总理办公室最近一份文件所指出的，法国（乃至整个欧洲）需要更多的“年轻领先创业者”。较年轻的公司往往具备更高的增长潜力、创造更多就业以及提高生产率。它们有助于更新一个国家的经济结构。

There is certainly a striking contrast in the scale and speed of wealth generation between the US and France. At $1.55tn, the combined market capitalisation of Apple, Google (now Alphabet), and Microsoft is greater than that of the entire CAC 40, containing France’s most valuable public companies. Europe could surely benefit from more adventurous⁸ venture capital to help its yollies. But all is not quite so simple as it seems. For a start, Europe’s VC industry does not do a bad job, according to a paper by two academics from the London School of Economics, whose data set included 12,315 European and 23,483 US venture capital investments.

美国和法国在财富创造的规模和速度方面肯定存在显著差异。苹果、谷歌（如今名为Alphabet）以及微软的总市值为1.55万亿美元，超过囊括法国市值最高的上市公司的CAC 40指数所有成分股的市值。欧洲肯定会受益于帮助年轻创业者的比较愿意冒险的风投。但一切不像看上去那么简单。伦敦政治经济学院(London School of Economics)两名学者发表的一篇论文称，首先，欧洲风投行业做得并不糟糕。该学院的数据包括1.2315万项欧洲和2.3483万项美国风投投资。

Contrary to perceived wisdom, the two researchers found there was no difference between the likelihood or profitability of initial public offerings between European and US deals from comparable years — even though US companies were prepared to pay more than European ones for trade sales.

与通常的看法相反，两位研究员发现，可比年度的欧美风投投资在首次公开发行(IPO)的可能性以及盈利能力方面没有任何差距，即便美国公司准备为交易出售付出更高的价格。

The biggest determinant of success in both markets, though, was long-term expertise⁹ in the industry. Serial¹⁰ entrepreneurs and investors¹¹ were more successful on both sides of the Atlantic. Overall, there remains a far greater wealth of experience in the US. But some successful European entrepreneurs-turned-investors, such as Niklas Zennstrom, co-founder of Skype, are helping¹² to redress¹³ the balance.

然而，这两个市场成功的最大决定因素是在该行业的长期运作诀窍。连续创业者和投资者在欧美都比较成功。总的来说，美国的经验要丰富得多。但一些成功的由创业者变身投资者的欧洲人士（例如Skype联合创始人尼古拉斯•占斯特姆(Niklas Zennstrom)）正帮助纠正这种平衡。

Venture capital also has its drawbacks. Too much VC money has lately been invested in start-up companies with daft ideas, inflating¹⁴ some private market valuations beyond any meaningful measure and eroding¹⁵ margins¹⁶ for sounder businesses. As the cycle has turned down, some of the much-vaunted unicorns¹⁷ (private tech companies with valuations of $1bn or more) are turning into unicorpses.

风险投资也有其缺陷。近来有太多的风投资金投资于想法愚蠢的初创企业，这令私募市场的一些估值超过所有重要的衡量标准，并侵蚀了更稳健公司的利润率。随着周期转为下行，一些曾被大肆吹捧的独角兽企业（估值达到10亿美元以上的私有科技企业）将变成“独角尸”。

Moreover, as the NVCA acknowledges, much of the success of US venture capital stems from external factors: access to good science from world-class universities, protection of intellectual property rights and a skilled workforce¹⁸ drawn¹⁹ from around the world.

另外，就像美国国家风投协会所承认的那样，美国风投的成功在很大程度上来自于外部因素：获得世界级大学的高质量科学知识、知识产权保护以及来自全球的高技能人才。

Professor Mariana Mazzucato, author of The Entrepreneurial State, has also highlighted the extraordinary role that the US government has played in fostering private sector²⁰ growth. Public sector organisations such as Darpa, the defence industry body, and the National Institutes of Health have pumped billions into early stage research and proved to be remarkable²¹ engines of innovation.

《企业型政府》(The Entrepreneurial State)一书的作者玛丽安娜•马祖卡托(Mariana Mazzucato)教授也强调了美国政府在促进私募市场发展方面的不寻常作用。美国国防部高级研究计划局(Darpa)以及美国国立卫生研究院(National Institutes of Health)等公共部门机构向初期阶段的研究投入了巨额资金，被证明是成效显著的创新引擎。

Europe has a lot to do to emulate²² the success of the US in all these areas, not just in terms of VC funding. Capitalist success is about far more than the success of capital.

在仿效美国在所有这些方面的成功方面，欧洲还有很长的路要走，不仅仅是在风投资金方面。资本主义的成功远远不只是资本的成功。