There has been a continuous interest in academia with regard to the venture capital (VC) as themain flourishing aid to new business. Nowadays, academia and the public consider it ‘hot‘ to argue and invest in business that define their activities with sustainable goals, and callthemselves ‘green’, ‘clean’ or ‘eco’. Furthermore, circles of discussions about sustainability, triple bottom line, green, clean, eco, and other terms related with positive impact towards society environment alongside financial returns have created uncertainty with respect to what defines an entity as green and how this can be used as a competitive advantage in the attractiveness of the business in the very first steps of its existence. However, green startups are considered a strong tool for the emergence of the environmentally friendly solutions needed in order to avoid dangerous and irreversible climate change. Furthermore, venture capitalists (VCs) are a key provider of financial capital for emerging firms. Therefore, given the complex nature of the VC investment decision, it is paramount to understand the VCs perspective on what are the factors andcharacteristics that attract and repel investors toward green startups. By undertaking this investigation, we seek to create an understanding of the evaluation criteria, as well as, characteristics and challenges related to VC investments in green startups. Therefore, contributing to the fields of environmental entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance, by identifying what VCs take in consideration when evaluating green startups. To develop this understanding of the VCs perspective on green startups we first developed an in-depth literature review of the extant research, then we conducted in-depth semi-structured interviews with practitioners from the mainstream and the greenVC industry operating in Sweden. Furthermore, we implemented an interpretative approach which enabled us to analyze the individual perspectives of VC depending on the context in which they operate. This study provided interesting results that complement the existing literature and provide useful insights on the current state of green VC. Combining the findings of our study with the theories discussed in our comprehensive literature review on green entrepreneurs, green startups and venture capital, we provide an understanding of the evaluation criteria and investment thesis relevant to green startups as well as, insight on characteristics, challenges and opportunities related to investments in green startups. Therefore, this study generates new knowledge in this scarcely studied area of research and provide interesting insights for future research. To the end of this continuum, both actors involved - VCs and green entrepreneurs - will benefit from the findings which provide: green entrepreneurs with the tools to develop green startups with more potential to attract investors; and VCs with an understanding of the nature, challenges and opportunities of green startups´ investments.

To respect climate change goals, reinforced by COP21 in Paris, an overhaul of the energy system in EU countries will be necessary and this will involve a major deployment of low-carbon technology (Stern 2006). Although the relative roles of green new ventures and incumbent firms in the dissemination of environmental innovation remain unclear (Hall, Daneke et al. 2010), entrepreneurship shows promise as a response to environmental prob-lems (Anderson 1998, Schaltegger 2002, Hart, Milstein 1999). Since green new ventures are free from the innovatory constraints faced by incumbent firms (York, Venkataraman 2010, Hockerts, Wüstenhagen 2010), they are in a position to disrupt existing unsustaina-ble markets. Designing and implementing an energy policy with an “entrepreneurial fla-vour” (Wüstenhagen, Wuebker 2011) could be advantageous in achieving a successful sus-tainable transformation of the energy system. This thesis examines how entrepreneurs per-ceive energy policy in three advanced EU countries using a case study approach, with each country constituting a case. Data sources comprised policy documents, interviews with entrepreneurs and key staff in new ventures, and field notes from practitioner conferences. At this critical point at which direct support for renewables is being withdrawn, it is argued that efforts must be made to retain this entrepreneurial force in the energy market. This thesis reflects on the degree to which the market-creating support mechanisms are being withdrawn. If entrepreneurship is to thrive in a post-support context, there must be consid-eration as to how to better integrate decentralised renewables into the energy market, espe-cially in relation to how they can compete effectively with conventional technologies, namely nuclear and gas. In addition to alternative strategies to incentivise adoption of re-newable energy technologies beyond early adopter consumer categories (Rogers 1995), building greater public consent to sustainability policies is crucial to the continued success of energy entrepreneurship. Geopolitical factors surrounding energy security may rein-force the case for continuing to support entrepreneurship in the renewable power sector.