Overcoming barriers to the development of clean and digital energy start-ups: access to credit and protection of minority investors' rights

The global transition to sustainable energy is critical to mitigating climate change and achieving environmental and economic resilience. Clean and digital energy start-ups play a pivotal role in this transformation by fostering innovation, driving technological advancements, and creating solutions for energy efficiency and carbon reduction. However, these ventures face significant challenges, particularly in accessing adequate credit and ensuring robust protection for minority investors. Addressing these barriers is essential for enabling start-up development and scaling operations in the capital-intensive and high-risk sectors of clean and digital energy. This research examines the interplay between credit accessibility and minority investor protections, assessing their collective impact on the growth of start-ups in these critical industries. The study's primary aim is to analyse how financial mechanisms and governance safeguards influence start-up development in the clean and digital energy sectors. Employing a rigorous methodology, the study analyses a comprehensive dataset encompassing 18 countries and timespan 2000–2023.Using econometric models such as Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed Effects and Random Effects, the research evaluates relationships between independent variables and start-up performance metrics, including the number of ventures in clean and digital energy sectors. The results demonstrate a strong correlation between credit accessibility and start-up growth. The research identifies that credit accessibility and minority investor protection significantly impact the development of start-ups in the clean and digital energy sectors. A one-unit increase in the credit information index is associated with a 17.8% increase in the total number of clean and digital energy start-ups (OLS results). Fixed Effects (FE) models show a similar trend, with a coefficient of approximately 23.2, indicating a substantial positive impact. A one-unit improvement in the shareholder rights index is linked to a 30.5% rise in start-ups, underscoring its critical role in fostering entrepreneurial growth. Models incorporating both factors (credit and governance) account for 84.8% (Adjusted R-squared) of the variation in the total number of start-ups, emphasizing the synergistic effects. For clean energy start-ups, governance indices such as Shareholder Rights Protection exhibit the highest influence, with coefficients around 16.5 in FE models. For digital energy start-ups, credit-related factors like X2 show stronger impacts, with a coefficient of 12.1 in Random Effects (RE) models. This study provides actionable recommendations for policymakers and stakeholders, including enhancing credit systems, expanding credit registries, and strengthening investor protections. These measures are critical to creating resilient entrepreneurial ecosystems that support clean and digital energy start-ups, driving global progress toward sustainability and economic growth. Future research should explore regional disparities and evolving market dynamics to refine policy interventions further and ensure a just and inclusive energy transition.