Do networks of financial intermediaries help reduce local bias? Evidence from cross-border venture capital exits

•This paper contributes to the emerging research on cross-border venture capital.•This paper focuses on the intersection of local bias and financial networks.•Direct and indirect network ties mitigate the effects of distance.•Network distance affects the reach and quality of mediated information.

Contributing to the literature on local bias and financial networks, we examine how direct and indirect network ties of financial intermediaries mitigate the effects of distance and preference for local investments. In our analysis of cross-border venture capital exits, we find that proximity within networks facilitates cross-border transactions, which suggests that network distance is an important dimension of distance in addition to its geographical and cultural dimensions. The results also suggest that network distance affects the reach and quality of mediated information: indirect ties to partners' partners, with their broad reach, facilitate the identification of investment opportunities, whereas direct ties, which have certification effects, facilitate quality assessment.