O impacto de práticas ESG no financiamento de startups por meio de ICOS

Abstract

In recent years, Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) have been an important alternative for startups to raise funds without resorting to traditional financing and loans. The main objective of this study was to analyze the relationship between ESG rating and the volume of funding raised by startups through Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The secondary objective was to identify other variables that may impact fundraising by startups through ICOs. For the study, 6,513 ICOs were considered, and the data used, collected from the ICOmarkS platform, refers to the period from 2017 to 2021. The relationship between the dependent variable, the financial amount raised through ICOs, and explanatory variables was evaluated: token distribution, rating, ETHEREUM platform, KYC, whitelist, MVP, team size, campaign duration, USD restrictions, and FIAT currency. To identify ESG-targeted offers, an automatic calculation mechanism based on the method proposed by Monsouri & Momtaz was implemented. The estimation method used the OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) linear regression approach, and due to the occurrence of heteroscedasticity, the alternative estimation method GLS (Generalized Least Squares) was used. The research evidenced: the negative relationship between ESG rating and the volume of funding raised through ICOs; startups that adopt KYC procedures can obtain more funding than others; the MVP factor is not directly linked to higher fundraising.