what is a venture capitalist 
a venture capitalist vc is a private equity investor who provides capital to companies with high growth potential in exchange for an equity stake the investment could include funding for startup ventures or expansion efforts the bottom linea liquidity event is an event that allows a company s early investors to cash out some or all of their equity this can be accomplished through an acquisition merger or initial public offering ipo companies usually file sec form s 1 in anticipation of their initial public offering ipo 