On March 2, leading academics studying private equity, venture capital, and entrepreneurial finance gathered for a conference organized by Michael Ewens (Caltech), Arthur Korteweg (USC), and Rick Townsend (USCD). Papers discussed at the conference included "Venture Capital Investments and Merger and Acquisition Activity around the World" (Gordon M. Phillips (Dartmouth), Alexei Zhdanov (Penn State)); "Liquidity Provision in the Secondary Market for Private Equity Fund Stakes" (Rui Albuquerque (Boston College), Johan Cassel (Univ. of Oxford), Ludovic Phalippou (Univ. of Oxford), and Enrique Schroth (City University London)); and "Initial Coin Offering and Platform Building" (Jiasun Li (George Mason University) and William Mann (UCLA)), among others.
Funding for the conference was provided by The Linde Institute at Caltech, USCD's Rady School of Management, the USC Marshall School of Business, and the Institute for Private Capital.