Making a ‘Good Investment’: Value under Construction in Early-Stage Impact Investing

Kaja Lilleng

doi:10.3384/VS.2001-5992.2025.12.2.283–308

Authors

Kaja Lilleng Aalto University https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4830-8584

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3384/VS.2001-5992.2025.12.2.283–308

Keywords:

Valuation, Value under construction, Moral economy, Early-stage impact investing, Financialization, Qualification

Abstract

This article is an inquiry into value under construction. By unfolding the context of early-stage impact investing I examine how investors qualify and give value to environmental aspirations. I trace the role of the investor in shaping what a ‘good investment’ is and highlight the close connection between judging value and constructing value. Earlier studies have emphasised how investors spur financialised forms of valuation and impose financial frames onto the companies they engage with. However, more than financial logic is in play when things are made valuable in finance. The findings of this article illustrate how making something valuable is entwined with making something ‘good’. I show how the qualitative and moral judgements of investors shape what is valued of environmental aims in significant ways. The qualifications constrict what is considered environmental solutions and draw boundaries between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ aspirations. The approach contributes a holistic lens onto how things are made valuable in the economy.

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