Venture capitalists (VCs) play a key role in an era of rapid technological advances, fuelling innovation by financing high-growth, high-risk companies. However, VCs face financial risks, information asymmetries, and external disruptions. This thesis examines how VCs react to global challenges and assesses the impact of their investments on portfolio companies, focusing on two relevant phenomena: the sudden shock of COVID-19 and the gradual transition to environmental sustainability. The research is structured around three papers. The first explores how VCs adapted their decision-making during the COVID-19 crisis, revealing the influence of reputation concerns. Drawing on primary data, the study finds that VCs were reluctant to make highly visible changes to their investment practices, prioritizing the protection of their future fundraising prospects and income streams. This highlights the role of reputation in mitigating risks during periods of market uncertainty. The second paper introduces a new classification framework for cleantech companies, refining existing methodologies that rely on standard sectoral classification. This framework gives researchers and practitioners better tools for analysing cleantech companies within their broader innovation ecosystems. The third paper applies this classification to examine the impact of VC investments on cleantech companies. The findings indicate that while VCs tend to be more risk-averse in this sector, their support significantly enhances company growth compared to non-VC-backed counterparts. This thesis contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial finance and green finance by offering new insights into the adaptability of VCs in crisis contexts and their role in advancing sustainable innovation. The findings are relevant to policymakers and investors aiming at reconciling economic performance on the one hand with the larger aim of promoting sustainable technological development. Additionally, the thesis makes two methodological contributions: a novel two-dimensional cleantech classification framework developed through a three-step methodology and a new matching procedure for control samples in panel datasets.
I venture capitalist (VC) svolgono un ruolo fondamentale in un'epoca di rapidi progressi tecnologici, promuovendo l'innovazione attraverso il finanziamento di aziende a forte crescita e ad alto rischio. Tuttavia, i VC devono affrontare rischi finanziari, asimmetrie informative e perturbazioni esterne. Questa tesi esamina come i VC reagiscono alle sfide globali e valuta l'impatto dei loro investimenti sulle imprese gestite, concentrandosi su due eventi rilevanti: lo shock improvviso del COVID-19 e la graduale transizione verso la sostenibilità ambientale. La ricerca è strutturata in tre paper. Il primo esplora il modo in cui i VC hanno adattato il loro processo decisionale durante il COVID-19. Basandosi su una survey, lo studio rileva che i VC sono stati restii ad apportare modifiche molto visibili alle loro pratiche di investimento, dando la priorità alla protezione delle loro capitale reputazionale. Ciò evidenzia il ruolo della reputazione nel mitigare i rischi durante i periodi di incertezza. Il secondo paper introduce un nuovo metodo di classificazione per le imprese cleantech, perfezionando le metodologie di classificazione settoriale esistenti. Questa metodologia fornisce a ricercatori e professionisti strumenti migliori per analizzare le imprese cleantech dell'intero ecosistema di innovazione. Il terzo paper applica questa classificazione per esaminare l'impatto degli investimenti sulle imprese cleantech. I risultati indicano che, sebbene i VC tendano a essere più avversi al rischio in questo settore, il loro investimento sostiene la crescita delle aziende rispetto alle controparti non finanziate da VC. Questa tesi contribuisce alla letteratura sulla finanza imprenditoriale e sulla finanza sostenibile, offrendo nuovi spunti di riflessione sull'adattabilità dei VC in contesti di crisi e sul loro ruolo nel promuovere l'innovazione sostenibile. I risultati sono rilevanti per i legislatori e gli investitori che mirano a conciliare la performance economica con l'obiettivo più ampio di promuovere lo sviluppo tecnologico sostenibile. Inoltre, la tesi apporta due contributi metodologici: un nuovo metodo di classificazione cleantech bidimensionale sviluppato attraverso una metodologia a tre fasi e una nuova procedura di matching per campioni di controllo con dati panel.
The challenges of venture capital, between crises and sustainability
Ambrois, Matteo
2024/2025
Abstract
Venture capitalists (VCs) play a key role in an era of rapid technological advances, fuelling innovation by financing high-growth, high-risk companies. However, VCs face financial risks, information asymmetries, and external disruptions. This thesis examines how VCs react to global challenges and assesses the impact of their investments on portfolio companies, focusing on two relevant phenomena: the sudden shock of COVID-19 and the gradual transition to environmental sustainability. The research is structured around three papers. The first explores how VCs adapted their decision-making during the COVID-19 crisis, revealing the influence of reputation concerns. Drawing on primary data, the study finds that VCs were reluctant to make highly visible changes to their investment practices, prioritizing the protection of their future fundraising prospects and income streams. This highlights the role of reputation in mitigating risks during periods of market uncertainty. The second paper introduces a new classification framework for cleantech companies, refining existing methodologies that rely on standard sectoral classification. This framework gives researchers and practitioners better tools for analysing cleantech companies within their broader innovation ecosystems. The third paper applies this classification to examine the impact of VC investments on cleantech companies. The findings indicate that while VCs tend to be more risk-averse in this sector, their support significantly enhances company growth compared to non-VC-backed counterparts. This thesis contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial finance and green finance by offering new insights into the adaptability of VCs in crisis contexts and their role in advancing sustainable innovation. The findings are relevant to policymakers and investors aiming at reconciling economic performance on the one hand with the larger aim of promoting sustainable technological development. Additionally, the thesis makes two methodological contributions: a novel two-dimensional cleantech classification framework developed through a three-step methodology and a new matching procedure for control samples in panel datasets.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/237578