Unlocking green startup investments: How environmental policy pressures drive Venture Capital funding decisions

IF 12.9 1区管理学 Q1 BUSINESS

Technological Forecasting and Social Change Pub Date : 2025-04-30 DOI:10.1016/j.techfore.2025.124158

Eleonora Rizzitello , Mariangela Piazza , Giovanni Perrone

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Abstract

The urgency of addressing climate change has spotlighted the role of green startups. Independent (IVCs), Corporate (CVCs), and Governmental (GVCs) Venture Capitalists are key players in financing these startups. This study examines how public environmental policies influence the investment decisions of different VCs toward green startups, addressing a gap in understanding the interplay between VCs' behavior and policy frameworks. Drawing on Real Option, Open Innovation, Agency, and New Institutional theories and leveraging a panel dataset of 6754 VCs investments in 13,015 startups (2010–2019) from Crunchbase, Compustat, and OECD Environmental Policy Stringency data, our findings reveal that GVCs and CVCs have a positive propensity to invest in green startups, while IVCs have a negative one. Moreover, incentives do not reduce IVCs' investments while encouraging CVCs' funding in green startups. Conversely, constraints mitigate the risk perceived by IVCs, fostering their propensity to invest in green startups while discouraging CVCs. We contribute to the literature on the influence of environmental policies on investments by introducing a theory-driven classification of environmental policies and demonstrating that policy effectiveness varies across VC types due to their different investment logic. These insights guide policymakers in designing tailored incentives and constraints to mobilize private capital toward green startups.

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解锁绿色创业投资：环境政策压力如何推动风险投资融资决策

应对气候变化的紧迫性凸显了绿色创业公司的作用。独立（IVCs）、公司（cvc）和政府（gvc）风险资本家是这些初创企业融资的关键参与者。本研究考察了公共环境政策如何影响不同风险投资公司对绿色创业公司的投资决策，解决了理解风险投资公司行为与政策框架之间相互作用的空白。利用实物期权、开放式创新、代理和新制度理论，并利用来自Crunchbase、Compustat和OECD环境政策严格数据的6754家风险投资公司对13015家初创公司的面板数据集（2010-2019年），我们的研究结果表明，全球风险投资公司和企业风险投资公司对绿色初创公司的投资倾向为正，而企业风险投资公司对绿色初创公司的投资倾向为负。此外，激励措施并不会减少风险投资公司的投资，反而会鼓励风险投资公司为绿色创业公司提供资金。相反，限制因素减轻了风险投资公司感知到的风险，促进了他们投资绿色创业公司的倾向，同时阻碍了风险投资公司的发展。我们通过引入理论驱动的环境政策分类，并证明由于不同的投资逻辑，不同类型的风险投资的政策有效性有所不同，从而为环境政策对投资影响的文献做出了贡献。这些见解指导政策制定者设计有针对性的激励和约束措施，以动员私人资本向绿色初创企业投资。

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来源期刊

Technological Forecasting and Social Change Multiple-

CiteScore

21.30

自引率

10.80%

发文量

813

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