  Sustainability initiatives are set to benefit greatly from the growing
involvement of venture capital, in the same way that other technological
endeavours have been enabled and accelerated in the post-war period. With the
spoils increasingly being shared between shareholders and other stakeholders,
this requires a more nuanced view than the finance-first methodologies deployed
to date. Indeed, it is possible for a venture-backed sustainability startup to
deliver outstanding results to society in general without returning a cent to
investors, though the most promising outcomes deliver profit with purpose,
satisfying all stakeholders in ways that make existing 'extractive' venture
capital seem hollow.
  To explore this nascent area, a review of related research was conducted and
social entrepreneurs & investors interviewed to construct a questionnaire
assessing the interests and intentions of current & future ecosystem
participants. Analysis of 114 responses received via several sampling methods
revealed statistically significant relationships between investing preferences
and genders, generations, sophistication, and other variables, all the way down
to the level of individual UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
