Public defence in Industrial Engineering and Management, M.Sc. David Wunder

Title of the thesis: The role of venture capital in technology ventures’ sustainability and internationalization

Thesis defender: David Wunder
Opponent: Chaired Professor, Riitta Katila, Stanford University, USA
Custos: Professor Markku Maula, Aalto University, School of Science

Startups can play a key role in fighting climate change by developing and scaling green technologies. Startups also need to enter new international markets early to grow and stay competitive. However, they often lack the capital and capabilities required. Venture capital (VC) investors can bridge these gaps by providing funding, strategic guidance, and access to resources, but not all VCs are alike: they differ in expertise, objectives, and the support they offer. This thesis examines how two types of VC investors, corporate VC and cross-border VC, can support sustainability and internationalization in technology startups.

Drawing on a comprehensive sample of European technology ventures backed between 2000 and 2019, this thesis uncovers three principal findings. First, startups developing green technologies are more likely to attract corporate VC and particularly from corporate VC, where corporate parents are already engaged in green innovation; however, only those corporate VC investors possessing complementary green resources can actively foster further ventures’ green technology development post-investment. Second, green technology ventures selectively pursue cross-border corporate VC when the foreign corporate parent offers synergistic environmental technologies, a dynamic that intensifies when the venture’s home country scores lower on climate performance. Third, technology ventures’ international innovation increases following cross-border VC funding, with such activities being systematically directed toward the investors’ home market.

By emphasizing investor heterogeneity and the fit between investor and venture resources, this thesis advances the literatures on entrepreneurial finance, sustainable entrepreneurship, international entrepreneurship, and innovation. Entrepreneurs can leverage these insights to choose VC investors who align with their green technology development and internationalization strategies. Conversely, VC investors gain a nuanced understanding of how and when their unique resources can catalyze technology startups’ sustainability and internationalization outcomes.
 

Key words: entrepreneurial finance, technology entrepreneurship, corporate venture capital, cross-border venture capital, green innovation, international innovation

Contact information: david.wunder@aalto.fi; https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidwunder/

Thesis available for public display 10 days prior to the defence at Aaltodoc.