Green start-ups – A new typology for sustainable entrepreneurship and innovation research

Abstract

There is a growing political consensus about the necessity to decouple economic growth from environmental impacts. For a transition towards a green economy radical innovation plays a central role. Start-ups are key market actors in the development and market introduction of radical sustainable innovation, but so far there is little research on the specific challenges and opportunities of green start-ups. In this conceptual paper, we bring together research and theory on entrepreneurship and innovation as well as sustainable business practice and ask why and how different types of green start-ups may encounter specific financing challenges and opportunities when developing their products/services. As existing typologies are too unspecific to properly explain the financing challenges and opportunities of green start-ups, we elaborate on these and develop a new typology of green start-ups. This typology will enable further empirical exploration of specific challenges and opportunities that such start-ups have when looking for finance.