Unraveling Criteria for Impact Startups

This paper investigates the underlying decision criteria of early-stage return-oriented impact investors. The contribution to the literature is made by identifying the main decision criteria of impact investors in startup valuation, as well as untangling the term impact more concretely. For this purpose, first, a systematic literature review has been conducted, followed by a qualitative content analysis of semi-structured interviews. The results provide consolidated insight into the investment valuation process of early-stage mission-driven startups. Supported by these findings, this research provides theoretical implications for future impact investing research with regard to entrepreneurship as well as practical implications for impact-driven entrepreneurs in their pursuit to receive funding.