Innovation, Digitalization, and Sustainability: The New Frontiers of Entrepreneurial Finance
Entrepreneurial finance has undergone strong expansion, becoming a central field for understanding innovation and entrepreneurship. Today, it faces profound transformations linked to digitalization, the rise of fintech, new financing instruments (crowdfunding, tokens), and the growing importance of social and environmental criteria. This field, characterized by disciplinary plurality, suffers from a lack of theoretical integration. Startups are now evaluated as much on their economic potential as on their contribution to ecological and social transitions, compelling investors to rethink their practices. Several questions remain: do innovations truly reduce inequalities in access to capital? Do alternative forms of financing complement or replace traditional mechanisms? Research must explore the evolution of the investor – entrepreneur relationship, the impact of emerging technologies, the integration of sustainable finance, and the adaptation of established actors. Entrepreneurial finance thus asserts itself as a space where innovation, sustainability, and institutional reconfiguration intersect.