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Urgent issues like the climate crisis, environmental degradation threatening millions of species, social inequality and other challenges mean that the itself .

are showing us the way with having economic, social and environmental value.

Toronto's is an example demonstrating the power of aquaponics to sustainably produce organic greens and seafood throughout the year. To connect urbanites with the land, the company's business model combines product offerings with education on urban agriculture.

Similarly, sells a full range of residential and commercial renewable energy designs including geothermal, solar, LED lighting equipment, water treatment solutions and much more. By offering a one-stop shop at its Sustainable Living Centre, they have made renewable energy choices much easier for consumers.

Both firms bundle products and services in different ways with a potential to .

have similar potential to export Canadian products and expertise around the world.

Finding the right investor

But Canada needs these so they can create jobs that other unsustainable businesses are shedding as they become obsolete. this urgently needed start-up growth in Canada's sustainable sector.

According to the United Nations' seminal , sustainable development should meet the needs of current generations without compromising the capacity of future generations, ensuring a balance between economic growth, care for the environment and social well-being.

These are considered together, not as separate goals. is required to ensure and oversee all three of them.

In this complex business environment, finding investors to scale up new companies and, even more importantly, finding the , is challenging. Start-up ventures burn through cash rapidly as they aim for a sale of the company —usually to other larger firms or on the stock market through an initial public offering.

Raising funds to grow start-up companies is an that pulls management away from running the business. By finding , a firm can ease the constant stress of raising capital while legitimizing the company to consumers, clients and stock markets.

Unfortunately, when it comes to investors compared to purely for-profit firms because they appear to have multiple competing goals.

Stiff competition

Sustainable firms often face powerful well-established competitors —renewable energy firms, for example, must overcome obstacles in .

even if it improves their lives. The choice between fossil fuels and renewables is not unlike trading a typewriter in for a laptop. This gives traditional firms market advantages that .

Many sustainable industries still in technological development stages are also , meaning that they need a lot of capital upfront before they can demonstrate viability.

In addition to their unfamiliarity to potential stakeholders, some have experienced highly publicized failures, such as , along the way to technological maturity. .

Advice for sustainable companies

My colleague Dave Valliere and I recently using data on 184 entrepreneurial ventures. The analysis found that sustainable start-ups are better off choosing a different type of investor, one with aligned interests so that others will have confidence in it.

Perhaps surprisingly, it's not so much as that can help these firms grow. In this model, the corporation usually sets up a separate division that looks for investments of interest to it.

The problem for most investors is that the until after it has grown to a point where it is steadily increasing revenues and generating healthy profits.

A new venture . As a result, many investors look for signs of the hidden potential of a venture. An example could be the or the presence of professional investors.

Our study indicates that angel investors, venture capitalists and investment banks do not create confidence in sustainable ventures. It found that investment banks can even have adverse consequences for businesses in the sustainable sector that are seeking legitimacy.

Try a different strategy

could be playing a part. Usually, new ventures begin with angel investors and move on to venture capital and other types of more sophisticated financiers who can further develop and market the firm. Instead, we advise sustainable firms to use a different strategy and seek out corporate venture capital as it is uniquely more helpful to sustainable ventures.

The usual investment —moving from angels to venture capital and then to more sophisticated types of investors —may not always hold.

A venture attracts additional capital by meeting an investor's screening criteria, but the most recent investors matter too. Current investors to attract other investors. According to our findings, the sustainable sector gains that legitimacy with corporate venture capital over other types of investors.

This result suggests that the credibility of corporate venture capital plays an important role in the development of sustainable businesses.

A corporate venture capital firm may choose to invest in a venture with promising technology, even if the company has weak management or an unlikely strategy; sometimes, they just want to to help them make strategic choices about future technological options.

Positive reputation

If they're interested in the venture as a whole, a corporate venture capital firm can replace the management and/or the strategy of the new venture after acquisition. While the corporation offers its target more resources and strategic guidance, it also the of the new venture.

Overall, a corporate venture capital endorsement of a new venture and its potential acquisition suggests to the market that the company is poised to be a . Corporate venture capital cuts through the noise that often accompanies sustainability goals. Change is in the wind for an industry, and others want to jump on the upward trajectory.

with the right investor strategies to help them grow to medium and large size. Some of these startups are exciting in many ways. Most significantly, they will and ensure we have a healthier environment.

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