First of all, seed projects usually have only one idea and an initial team (some have only one or two founders). There is great uncertainty whether an idea can be transformed into makesense business, and it takes some time to try and verify the assumptions behind this idea, so as to explore a truly feasible direction. In this process, the direction and content of the project may be adjusted at any time, and the project has no history and continuity. The only stable factor that investors can refer to is the team (and mainly the founder), so the investment in the seed stage mainly depends on people. People are extremely complicated. To evaluate a person, we must know him deeply and deal with him. Because this process depends on a lot of experience and intuition, it is difficult to make a rational analysis, so it is generally individual investors who perform this task and make this decision. This is also the origin of the title "angel". In addition, because the amount of funds needed for trying and exploring is generally not too much, which can be borne by individual investors, the earlier the project, the greater the risk, so the amount of angel investment is generally small, generally below 5 million yuan.
Second, there seems to be no accepted definition of growth period. My personal understanding is that when a project has gone through the exploration of the seed stage and found a more feasible road, it has entered the growth stage. It can be said that the seed stage is an armchair strategist, and the growth stage is practiced, and hope is seen from the market reaction. After the enterprise enters the growth period, the strategy is basically formed, and it is ready to invest resources (capital is the key resource) to realize this strategy. What you put in at this time can be counted as VC. Therefore, venture capital is an investment used to support enterprises to implement the strategy after the initial formation of the enterprise strategy. At this time, the enterprise has just made some achievements in the market, or seen some signs of success, but its own resources are not enough to support, so it needs to introduce external resources. For investors, the key assumptions implied in corporate strategy have been verified by the market. At this time, the project can be analyzed rationally and the risks faced can be evaluated relatively accurately. This has the foundation of institutional investment, that is, actual investors can entrust professional investors to operate and supervise investors, thus creating a principal-agent relationship in the investment field; On the other hand, at this stage, enterprises need a large amount of funds, and it will be difficult for individual investors to spread risks, so the institutionalization of investment becomes inevitable. Therefore, VC is generally institutionalized in the form of funds, and the investment is generally in the order of tens of millions.
Third, PE often refers to the funds invested in mature projects. At this time, the enterprise has achieved certain success in the market. Through stable operation, enterprises have been able to obtain economic resources from the market in a sustainable way, and have achieved a certain market position, and will no longer face the problem of survival in the short term. At this time, the financing needs of enterprises are diversified, some are to standardize listing, some are to implement mergers and acquisitions for industrial integration, and some may extend business lines, and so on. But they all have a common feature, that is, the purpose of PE financing is to go up a step. For investors, this time, enterprises have more economic resources. Although the investment amount is generally large (small enterprises can rely on their own accumulation or bank loans to solve it), the investment risk can be locked in a certain range through contract terms such as gambling and repurchase, so the risk is more controllable. PE investors expect to get higher returns in a short time, with the aim of fast-forward and fast-out. On the other hand, at this time, enterprises are not short of money in a sense, and financing often focuses on long-term strategy or integration of industrial resources. Therefore, investors are required not only to pay, but also to have a certain industrial background or other resources to help enterprises successfully achieve their goals. If angels spell vision and VC spells judgment, then PE spells resources.
Fourthly, finally, although the nature of angel /VC/PE has been distinguished just now, there is no strict boundary in actual operation. Especially domestic VC, many of them are doing PE work. Of course, in recent years, with the increase and competition of funds and the development of the capital market, the environment for early domestic project financing has been rapidly improved, and the degree of specialization of various funds has also been continuously enhanced.