Lara Pierpoint & ECI Team in Climate Finance Report

Bringing climate tech into the world can be a risk-prone, challenging process. We refer to breaks in the tech pipeline as “valleys of death.” The invention and commercialization process is often far from linear or easy. Fortunately, at least in the U.S., we’ve made some hard-won gains at the earliest stages of climate technology development – thanks to ARPA-E, patient venture capital, entrepreneurial fellowship models, and hardtech incubators, among other early-stage support systems.

Over the last decade, capital for the earliest stages has grown. But what happens to those earliest-stage solutions when they're entering their growth, commercialization, and deployment? The reality is the market has not caught up to their capital needs, nor their risk profile, as they advance. This valley looks more like a million-mile-wide abyss. Specifically, these companies entering growth, commercialization, and deployment phases are discovering they need significant amounts of late-stage venture or early-stage growth funding to build first-of-a-kind commercial projects. As they begin implementation, their capital stack can become more complicated- as do some engineering risks, supply chain dependencies, and business model implementations. The funding they require is also too expensive or nonexistent.

To read the full article, please visit the Climate Capital Network (pages 22 - 23).