Financing e-commerce: Legal and commercial pitfalls

In the new millennium, increasing numbers of e-commerce businesses are developing. As with all business ventures, it will be necessary for these enterprises to attract funding for their activities either from investors in the market or from traditional debt financiers such as banks. This may cause difficulties given that the main asset bases of such ventures often comprise rights in various computer systems and valuable commercial information. This paper surveys some of the legal and commercial issues surrounding the financing of e-business, notably start-up ventures.