Sammanfattning Under 2000-talet har hotet mot miljön och klimatet nått oss med stormsteg och en omställning till ett hållbart samhälle är ett krav och omställningen förväntas bli lång. I ljuset av miljöhotet utvecklas nya investeringssektorer med fokus på att stilla den ökande efterfrågan på produkter och tjänster som minskar miljöpåverkan, en av de mest populära investeringssektorerna med fokus på miljön är Cleantech. Cleantech är en ny investeringskategori som kom till Sverige runt år 2005. Begreppet och investeringskategorin, Cleantech härstammar från USA och organisationen Cleantech Group LLC. Cleantech Group delar upp Cleantech i elva olika segment på följande sätt; (1) Energiproduktion, (2) Energiförvaring, (3) Energiinfrastruktur, (4) Energieffektivitet, (5) Transport, (6) Vatten & Avfallsvatten, (7) Luft & Miljö, (8) Material, (9) Tillverkning/Industriell, (10) Jordbruk, (11) Återvinning & Avfallshantering. För att Cleantech-bolag skall utvecklas så används ofta riskkapital från VC-bolag. En enkätstudie visar att 56 % av svenska riskkapitalister anser att Cleantech är det mest intressanta investeringsområdet. En klartläggning över vilka svenska Cleantech-bolag som har erhållit VC-investeringar kompletterar den tidigare forskningen, vilket gör ämnet intressant att studera. Genom en abduktiv forskningsansats och en kvantitativ inriktning har jag valt att studera samtliga VC-bolag som är registrerade i SVCA’s medlemsregister och identifierade VC- bolagens tillhörande portföljbolag. Syftet är att kategorisera och klassificera vilka svenska Cleantech-bolag som har erhållit VC-investeringar. Studien har ett delsyfte genom att undersöka om det finns tillväxtskillnader mellan Cleantech-bolag och Övriga bolag som inkluderas i studien. De teoretiska utgångspunkterna är Cleantech-segmenteringen som hänförs till Cleantech Group och väsentligheten kring ett väldefinierat begrepp kring Cleantech. Jämförelser och paralleller dras till Cleantech Group’s årliga Cleantech- undersökning, Global Cleantech 100. Tillväxtskillnader mellan Cleantech-bolag och Övriga bolag analyseras med kopplingar till agentteori och teorin kring informationsasymmetri. Studien genomförs med en systematisk datainsamling med indelning i två faser; första fasen innehåller kategorisering och klassificeringen av funna portföljbolag som antingen Cleantech- bolag eller Övriga bolag och andra fasen innehåller inhämtade av bokslutsdata för respektive portföljbolag, vilket möjliggör en analys av tillväxtskillnaderna mellan Cleantech-bolag och Övriga bolag, mätt i antal anställda och omsättningsförändring. Datainsamlingen omfattar 703 stycken unika portföljbolag som i sin tur finansieras av 71 olika VC-bolag. Studien visar att Energiproduktion med 23 stycken portföljbolag attraherar VC-kapital i störst utsträckning följt av Energieffektivitet med 18 stycken portföljbolag och Tillverkning/Industriell med 13 stycken portföljbolag. Studien påvisar också att Cleantech- bolag har signifikant högre tillväxt både mätt i antal anställda och omsättningsförändring i förhållande till bolag kategoriserade som Övriga bolag. I rådande studie har en totalundersökning av VC-bolag registrerade i SVCA’s medlemsregister genomförts, vilket innebär att applicerbarheten och jämförbarheten är gentemot populationer som överensstämmer med kriterierna för VC-bolagen och har en likvärdig Cleantech-segmentering. Generaliserbarheten minskar vid överföring till VC-bolag som investerar i utländska bolag på grund av att dessa bolag inte styrs av svenska marknadsmöjligheter och svenska regleringar.

CleanTech is the sector where technologies intended to reduce the harmful effect that our current lifestyle has on the environment are found. In Sweden the companies developing these technologies has not yet managed to get their deserved part of Swedish venture capital. A number of venture capitalists do invest in CleanTech, however the majority is hesitant. The hesitation is to a large extent said to be born in the many risks associated to a CleanTech investment. This thesis attempts to address this issue by describing and analyzing how venture capitalists reduce risks when investing in a CleanTech company. An abductive approach has been used to conduct the study, mainly based on primary, qualitative data. The data was gathered through six face-to-face interviews with Swedish venture capitalists active within the CleanTech sector. The different risks expected to be found in a CleanTech investment are first presented grouped into three broad risks groups; Agency risk, Business risk and Innovation risk. This is followed by a framework covering methods and tools that can be applied by venture capitalists in an attempt to reduce risks in their investments. These being; Convertible equity, Syndication, Information system, Monitoring, Milestones, Bonding, Share options, Stage financing and Intellectual property rights. The respondents do not view the risks associated to CleanTech as high as generally perceived. They acknowledge that the risks exists but not to any larger extent than in any other investment. When reducing risk in their investment the respondents make use of commonly known and generally used methods and tools. These are not deliberately chosen in order to reduce a specific risk but rather to safeguard the investment as a whole. It is not just the tools in themselves that leads to a successful reduction of risk, but rather when combined with the respondent’s as well as the entrepreneurs skills and experiences.

Given the present situation of environmental problems, clean technologies or cleantech is considered a way of reaching global sustainability and at the same time also seen as an engine of economic growth and fulfilling commitments to social and environmental welfare. Under this background, Swedish cleantech sector have not achieved that much commercial success yet that they are supposed to be while maintaining a reputation of top technological innovative country. The Swedish cleantech sector is dominated by small medium-sized firms (SMEs) and often limited to resources at their disposition. Thus, the Swedish government has designed various policies and export support programs to promote this sector but somehow firms could not reach up to them. Hence, it has become necessary to study the Swedish cleantech firms in order to analyze the existing gap. The purpose of this study is to run an investigation about individual cleantech firms and analyze how they are experiencing Swedish governmental export support programs. On the other hand, this study has also tried to find out what firms really expect from these programs so that it will help to reduce the gap. Based on the study of four cases and one independent interview, the study has shown two different scenarios. In one hand, micro level SMEs specially which are in initial phase of their internationalization process cannot reach up to governmental export support programs due to high acquiring cost and inflexible pre-requirements. On the other hand, small level SMEs which are in mature phase of their internationalization process have faced completely reverse experience than initial phase micro firms but not satisfied with the provided service quality. The study has also revealed that firms with relatively new technology face problems to get support from governmental agencies due to uncertain market performance. The study has further showed, this is not always the high acquiring cost and inflexible conditions, participation in governmental export support programs is also depend on firm’s owns mindset and their business strategy. So, in order to reduce the gap between Swedish governmental export support programs and cleantech firms’ expectations, the studied firms have suggested to implement a proper business model that fits into each type of firms’ needs based on their position in the internationalization process, create a separate institution or agency and Science Park that only deals with cleantech firms issues, and co-operation among the different state cleantech firms and the universities.

In recent years, awareness of the climate change has increased around the world. Environmental issues have been taking into consideration, both by individuals and companies. Therefore the demands for new environmental friendly technology have increased, also known as cleantech. To further establish and develop cleantech it requires capital. Venture capitalists have as well seen the potential. To increase the number of Venture capital investments in cleantech, it is important the investments generate good returns. Venture capitalists obtain their returns when they exit an investment. The purpose of this essay is to describe the exit strategy Venture capitalists prefer, as well the relationship between exit strategy and the investment strategy for the Venture capitalist investing in the cleantech sector. The different type of exits we have studied are IPOs, trade sale and secondary sale. We identified investment strategies from existing theory which are linked to the Venture capitalist exit strategies. The investment strategies that we have identified for our study are value added activities, control, syndication, industry specialization, industry diversification, stage and geographical location. We used a quantitative analyze method for answering our thesis purpose and issue. We analyzed the relationship between Venture capitalists investment strategy and their preferred choice of exit in cleantech, based on our collected data. The results from the analysis indicated that Venture capitalist prefer a trade sale before IPOs and secondary sale in cleantech. We have also defined that venture capitalist that prefer an IPO do not prefer to invest in a specific geographical region in Sweden, but in opposite they do prefer to use control when their aim is to exit through an IPO in cleantech.

<p>CleanTech is the sector where technologies intended to reduce the harmful effect that our current lifestyle has on the environment are found. In Sweden the companies developing these technologies has not yet managed to get their deserved part of Swedish venture capital. A number of venture capitalists do invest in CleanTech, however the majority is hesitant. The hesitation is to a large extent said to be born in the many risks associated to a CleanTech investment. This thesis attempts to address this issue by describing and analyzing how venture capitalists reduce risks when investing in a CleanTech company. An abductive approach has been used to conduct the study, mainly based on primary, qualitative data. The data was gathered through six face-to-face interviews with Swedish venture capitalists active within the CleanTech sector.</p><p>The different risks expected to be found in a CleanTech investment are first presented grouped into three broad risks groups; Agency risk, Business risk and Innovation risk. This is followed by a framework covering methods and tools that can be applied by venture capitalists in an attempt to reduce risks in their investments. These being; Convertible equity, Syndication, Information system, Monitoring, Milestones, Bonding, Share options, Stage financing and Intellectual property rights.</p><p>The respondents do not view the risks associated to CleanTech as high as generally perceived. They acknowledge that the risks exists but not to any larger extent than in any other investment. When reducing risk in their investment the respondents make use of commonly known and generally used methods and tools. These are not deliberately chosen in order to reduce a specific risk but rather to safeguard the investment as a whole. It is not just the tools in themselves that leads to a successful reduction of risk, but rather when combined with the respondent’s as well as the entrepreneurs skills and experiences.</p>

Innovation intermediaries provide a range of services to assist firms during the process of innovation. How SMEs perceive innovation intermediaries is an area of investigation that would provide important information on how innovation intermediaries’ assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study focuses on the cleantech industry and explores SMEs’ expectations and perceptions of an established community-based intermediary (CBI) moving into their sector. A qualitative research methodology was adopted to collect data from 15 sample SMEs. In regards to SMEs, the findings show that cleantech companies face financing, partnerships, marketing, sales, regulatory and bureaucratic challenges. In regards to innovation intermediaries, the findings showcase how CBI, a regional intermediary, is not effective in supporting cleantech SMEs with their sector specific needs or challenges.

Innovation intermediaries provide a range of services to assist firms during the process of innovation. How SMEs perceive innovation intermediaries is an area of investigation that would provide important information on how innovation intermediaries’ assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study focuses on the cleantech industry and explores SMEs’ expectations and perceptions of an established community-based intermediary (CBI) moving into their sector. A qualitative research methodology was adopted to collect data from 15 sample SMEs. In regards to SMEs, the findings show that cleantech companies face financing, partnerships, marketing, sales, regulatory and bureaucratic challenges. In regards to innovation intermediaries, the findings showcase how CBI, a regional intermediary, is not effective in supporting cleantech SMEs with their sector specific needs or challenges.

Innovation intermediaries provide a range of services to assist firms during the process of innovation. How SMEs perceive innovation intermediaries is an area of investigation that would provide important information on how innovation intermediaries’ assist small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This study focuses on the cleantech industry and explores SMEs’ expectations and perceptions of an established community-based intermediary (CBI) moving into their sector. A qualitative research methodology was adopted to collect data from 15 sample SMEs. In regards to SMEs, the findings show that cleantech companies face financing, partnerships, marketing, sales, regulatory and bureaucratic challenges. In regards to innovation intermediaries, the findings showcase how CBI, a regional intermediary, is not effective in supporting cleantech SMEs with their sector specific needs or challenges.

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The ever-growing awareness of sustainable living brings us to Cleantech - a technology that aims to reduce pollution and enhance efficiency by developing environmentally friendly products and services. Investors nowadays claim they are moving towards investments incorporating CSR and ESG issues, which is closely connected to Cleantech investments. As a growing sector, the most concerning issue is the financing. Since Cleantech was introduced around 2006, the market has seen investors with different profiles. Among them venture capitalists (VC) have played a vital role in supporting Cleantech growth. It is noticeable that state-owned VCs, together with private VCs, have been actively participating in Swedish Cleantech investments. This study sets out to evaluate how public VCs differ from private VCs in terms of investment strategies, in Swedish Cleantech context. The results of the study aim to give an understanding of roles of different VCs in investment evaluations, which affect the decision making of their Cleantech investments. Through Cleantech Scandinavia’s database we have collected information regarding previous investments made in Swedish Cleantech between 2007 and 2011. The results showed that public VCs and private VCs had similar stage preferences, focusing at seed and commercialization stages with little touch on expansion stages. The co-investing activities were mainly targeted at energy related segments in Cleantech. Based on this rough understating about Swedish Cleantech investments we conducted semi-structured interviews with 11 VCs, both public and private, to gain a deeper understanding on their investment strategies. We found that the difference between public and private VCs lies merely in the sense that public VCs operates under governmental guidelines, which they have to comply with when making an investment decision. The majority of the public VCs must co-invest with private investors, which opens a door for private VCs seeking co-financing for Cleantech projects. Particularly public VCs with a regional focus work under both local governments’ and EU’s regulations, which make them restricted to some degree. On the contrary private VCs have the freedom to decide whatever they want under different circumstances. Apart from that, public and private VCs share a great deal of similarities in their investment strategies and evaluations in Cleantech investments.