Private Equity and Venture Capital
- Free
- No certificate
- 9 hours
Private Equity and Venture Capital is a short Università Bocconi course on how private equity investors finance companies at different stages of their life, from start-up and early stage through expansion and maturity to crisis and decline. Four teaching modules cover an introduction to private equity and venture capital; the legal and tax framework around private equity investors; how private equity and venture capital funds are managed; and company valuation and deal-making. A final test completes the course.
The page says guest speakers and practitioners are interviewed throughout to show how the ideas are applied. Coursera estimates the modules at one to two hours each, nine hours in total, on a flexible, self-paced timetable; no level is stated. The course FAQ says all features are available for free, and it states that no certificates, credentials or reports are awarded in connection with the course.
What you’ll learn
- Explain what private equity and venture capital investors do at each stage of a company's life
- Describe the legal and tax issues that shape private equity investing
- Outline how private equity and venture capital funds are managed
- Apply basic company valuation and deal-making concepts in a private equity setting
Who it’s for
Students and professionals who want a compact introduction to private equity and venture capital; the page asks for an understanding of basic corporate finance and accounting concepts, and it is not a substitute for a finance qualification.
Syllabus
5 sections as listed on coursera.org.
- An Introduction to Private Equity and Venture Capital 2 h 8 min
- Discovering Private Equity Investors: Legal Issues and Taxation 2 h 16 min
- The Management Of Private Equity And Venture Capital Funds 1 h 46 min
- Company Valuation And Deal Making In Private Equity Settings 2 h 10 min
- FINAL TEST 30 min
Instructor
- Stefano Caselli Vice Rector for International Affairs, Department of Finance, Università Bocconi
Course details
- Skills covered
- Business Valuation
- Tax Laws
- Entrepreneurial Finance
- Equities
- Investments
- Contract Negotiation
- Investment Management
- Private Equity
- Includes
- 5 modules · 5 assignments
- Subtitles
- 22 languages
On coursera.org
Rated 4.8 out of 5 by 9,642 learners; 336,971 enrolled, as shown on the course page on 20 Oct 2026. These are coursera.org’s own figures, not ours.
Source: Coursera (opens in a new tab) · Verified · Report a change
More free Coursera courses
Every Coursera course we have verified, with cost and certificate terms compared.
BusinessAll free Business courses
Free and free-to-audit Business courses from every provider, ranked.