Abstract
Despite increasing environmental consciousness and social pressure, established firms struggle to implement circular business models. Recent literature suggests that the circular economy may only be realized within ecosystems of actors. Due to their lack of resources, startups have been widely neglected as drivers of circular ecosystems. By employing a multiple case study, this paper exploratively delves into the role of startups in circular ecosystem emergence. The cases unveil how startups drive and orchestrate the emergence of circular value propositions with a wide range of actors. Therein, circular entrepreneurs face a set of common, interrelated challenges, namely Financing, Knowledge, Awareness, Convincing, Aligning, and Scaling. We identify strategies that circular startups employ to address these challenges. Startups are highly embedded in institutional settings which affect their strategic behavior. The study concludes by making five propositions regarding the role of startups in circular ecosystem emergence. In illuminating the role of circular startups, this study promotes our understanding of the processes that drive the transition to the circular economy and redirects the attention of scientific research from incumbent-centric orchestration to circular entrepreneurship.