The growth in the level of venture capital investment in the emerging small economies of Taiwan, Sri Lanka, and Thailand has been nothing short of astounding. This paper describes the development of venture capital in these countries and analyzes the criteria requested for a venture capital firm (VCF) to invest in a venture. To carry out this empirical study, a questionnaire was devised asking VCFs in the three countries to rate the important criteria when investing in a venture; the surveys were conducted in all venture capital firms over the period 1994-1995. The criteria cover diverse areas such as the entrepreneur's capability, the product, finance items, environmental conditions, and …