Circularity and Venture Capital: The Impact of Circularity on ICO Performance
(2025) , 43 pages
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- Abstract
- This paper investigates how the communication of circular economy (CE) strategies in Initial Coin Offering (ICO) white papers affects financial outcomes. Using a novel dataset of 1,202 ICOs launched between 2015 and 2021, we apply automated textual analysis based on the 10R framework, categorizing CE initiatives into short, medium, and long loops. Our findings indicate that ventures emphasizing circularity language, more especially short-loop strategies raise significantly more funds during ICOs, while medium and long-loop strategies show no consistent association with fundraising success or post-ICO financial performance. These results highlight the signaling power of sustainability disclosures in decentralized entrepreneurial finance.
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Citations
Thewissen, J., De Rongé, Y., Wilmet, S., & Izquierdo Montfort, J. O. (2025). Circularity and Venture Capital: The Impact of Circularity on ICO Performance (Louvain Research Institute in Management and Organizations Working Paper Series 2025/02). https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/275973