In Canada, a venture stock market lists micro-capitalization firms that are at a pre-revenue stage, and competes with both formal and informal venture capital (VC). This market provides a higher rate of return and is able to provide seven times more new listings to the main exchange than the VC market. We do not evidence post-graduation underperformance, and indeed, new listings on a main exchange can succeed even if they originate from a public venture market. Our results do not support the theoretical arguments that confer specific advantages on the VCs with regard to screening, monitoring and exiting new ventures.