This study contributes to the literature by describing how crowdfunding platforms that host social entrepreneurship projects build and preserve legitimacy. We study three intermediaries, analyzing the actions they take to ensure that creators and funders perceive crowdfunding as a trustworthy form of alternative finance. This study shows that the legitimacy that funders ascribe to a project’s social and/or environmental aims is also a source of legitimacy for the intermediaries that promote social entrepreneurship projects. These intermediaries act as agents of social change, using a range of mechanisms to promote projects that seek to create social and/or environmental value in addition to economic value. Our study also has practical implications. We highlight the mechanisms used to reduce potential risks for intermediaries, creators, and funders and ensure their trust in crowdfunding.

The transition from startup to scaleup is a complex process, intricately tied to the dynamic ecosystem in which a startup originates and flourishes. Recognizing the substantial socioeconomic benefits that high-growth firms bring to their operating environments, policy makers try to strategically craft public policies to bolster their development, constituting a pivotal facet of entrepreneurial ecosystems (EE). This research aims to identify the challenges to growth faced by startups and to pinpoint policy focal areas conductive to addressing these challenges in an emerging EE. Effective public policies must be tailored to the specific context, serving as enablers while entrusting leadership roles to entrepreneurs and other EE stakeholders. To achieve our objective, we selected an emerging EE and approached entrepreneurs and influential agents in the EE through questionnaires and focus groups. The findings conclude with a set of recommended public policy actions designed to fortify essential components within an emerging EE that fosters the growth of its startups. These actions are categorized into three broad topics: enhancing talent availability, promoting networking opportunities, and reinforcing the entrepreneurial culture of the region.