The challenges of rating young and innovative firms in the seed stage
Access to financing for young and innovative firms in the seed stage is a challenge due to the difficulty of assessing their growth potential. Our analysis focuses on the characteristics of the market for start-up rating agencies in France by studying their ability to offer a better understanding of this potential. Our methodology is based on a qualitative and exploratory research through eighteen semi-directive interviews with stakeholders from the start-up and rating ecosystems. We show that, in order to offer a real added value and simultaneously limit information and knowledge asymmetries between managers and financiers, the rating construction process requires a high degree of reliability of the data collected as well as increased transparency. The credibility of the rating presupposes the development of a standard based on three pillars, “human, market and governance”. The rating thus constructed could make it possible to diversify the sources of financing for young and innovative firms in the seed stage and thus support their development.