ALSO CALLED: Venture Funds, Capital Investments, Seed Money, Venture Capital Investors, VC Funds, and Risk Capital
DEFINITION: Venture capital (VC) is funding invested, or available for investment, in an enterprise that offers the probability of profit along with the possibility of loss. Indeed, venture capital was once known also as risk capital, but that term has fallen out of usage, probably because investors don't like to see the words "risk" and "capital" in close conjunction. Venture capitalists often don't tend  … 
Definition continues below.

VENTURE CAPITAL DEFINITION (continued): …  to think that their investments involve an element of risk, but are assured a successful return by virtue of the investor's knowledge and business sense. DataMerge, a financial information provider, says that VC investments in an enterprise are usually between $500,000 and $5 million, and that the investor is likely to expect an annual return of 20% to 50%.

Venture capitalists were instrumental in the enormous increase in the number of dot-com startups of recent years. Because the Internet was a new and untried business venue with enormous potential, many analysts feel that standard … 
Venture Capital definition sponsored by SearchCIO-Midmarket.com, powered by WhatIs.com an online computer dictionary