Abstract: This article analyses the exit decision in the China venture capital market, studying what factors can affect the exit decision of venture capitalists. Using a competing risks model and multinomial logistic regression model, this article examines the impact on the exit decision of not only the characteristics of venture capital investors as their investment duration and investment amount, of their investments but also the characteristics of invested start-ups as the location they are and the industry they located. Our results reveal that, in China, a longer investment duration means a higher chance to choose Go IPO exit. In contrast, the size of the investment amount has no significant influence on choosing a different exit strategy. Moreover, the results show that, in China, invested start-ups located in three entrepreneurial urban agglomerations of China can bring a higher chance of venture capitalists choosing the Go IPO exit strategy. An unexpected result is that the industry of invested start-ups belonging to high-tech industries cannot improve the possibility for venture capitalists to choose the Go IPO exit strategy; on the contrary, the start-ups that belong to high-tech industries could decrease the chance for venture capitalists to choose Go IPO exit strategy.

Key words: china venture capital, venture capital exit decision, competing risks model