In 2015, member countries of the United Nations developed 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs, 2019) that focus on social and environmental issues. To meet the newly introduced requirements, it is crucial to innovate the current system by combining the different dimensions of sustainability, namely social sustainability, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability. The scientific literature identifies six macro trends, in the area of sustainability, among which the concept of Circular Economy (CE) emerges (Gaudig et al., 2021). To date, CE represents a topic of utmost interest to both the research and business worlds; indeed, CE emphasizes the conscious use of natural resources, promoting their reuse and recycling (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). In this regard, stakeholders’ attention has focused on understanding which are the main facilitators for the adoption and implementation of sustainable business strategies. Recent years have witnessed the emergence and significant growth of a new category of companies: startups. In this regard, the literature points out that this new generation of firms is, at present, the largest producer of radical innovations (Hekker et al., 2007). However, to date, research has mainly focused on the circular approaches adopted by mature firms, while contributions related to startups have been little investigated. The present study aims to focus on the relationship between startups and sustainability, with particular attention to the role of CE on innovative strategies. Indeed, startups, being unstructured business entities, have the opportunity to develop from scratch a new organizational culture that integrates the dimensions of sustainability (Nunes et al., 2022). Startups have the opportunity to build a sustainable business from the beginning by proposing a circular business model or integrating sustainability practices into business operations. The underlying hypothesis is that startups are more open to new ideas because they lack an organizational culture, consequently it is easier to establish sustainable thinking unlike established companies (Pizzi et al., 2021). To achieve this goal, the study was structured in two main phases. First, a review of existing scientific literature was conducted through the methodology of keyword analysis (Fadalla and Amani, 2015). Starting from the results obtained in the literature review phase, the main points to be investigated and then included in the questionnaire were defined. Finally, in the second phase of the study a multiple case study was conducted on a sample of 13 startups,.