Trellis Climate Listed Among Top Women-Led Climate Tech Funds

ImpactAlpha recognized Trellis Climate among six women-led funds capitalizing the commercialization of climate tech. They wrote this about Trellis, our catalytic capital program enabling novel climate infrastructure solutions to achieve commercial scale at speed:

In the US, one of the most glaring capital gaps is for growth capital to help companies build their first production plants, expand their physical footprint in new markets, and test out new business lines and models.'

Companies needing such “first of a kind,” or FOAK, funding often don’t fit venture capital requirements and are seen as too risky for commercial infrastructure and debt investors.

“What we’re focused on is that moment when startups have some technology proof, when they have demonstrated that the technology is workable, and it’s time to actually start selling it to commercial markets,” said Lara Pierpoint of Prime Coalition’s new Trellis Climate fund.

The nuclear engineer did a stint at the Department of Energy supporting innovative research breakthroughs. Trellis’ first investments will support project developments for Ample Carbon, which repurposes retired coal plants for bioenergy, and Ebb Carbon, a marine carbon dioxide removal company.

Trellis targets projects in the $10 million to $100 million range – well below the threshold of prominent FOAK backers like the US Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office.

“This first-of-a-kind funding gap is a big one, and now is the time to solve it,” Pierpoint told ImpactAlpha in April.

Read the full article here.