The Interdependence Between Donors and Investors: Liability of Hybridity, Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Affordances, and Venture Financing

Brandon Ofem, Ikenna Uzuegbunam, Satish Nambisan

Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice · 2025 · Volume 49 · Issue 5

Abstract

This study investigates how spatial and digital affordances within entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) enable early-stage hybrid ventures to overcome the liability of hybridity and to secure funding from both philanthropic and equity funding sources. Using a simultaneous equation model with a U.S.-based sample of 2,723 hybrid ventures, we demonstrate that philanthropic and equity funding exhibit a statistically and economically significant complementary relationship. We further find that accelerator participation weakens this complementary relationship, while social media utilization strengthens it. These findings highlight the mechanisms through which EE-based affordances enhance hybrid ventures’ ability to navigate competing institutional logics and attract diverse funding sources.

Keywords

accelerators, ecosystems, entrepreneurial finance, hybrid ventures, interdependence, liability of hybridity, social media, spatial affordances, digital affordances

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