Invest in startups like Climatize alongside Climate Capital here.
Founders: Will Wiseman and Alba Forns
Motto/Mission: Unite a generation of climate investors by investing $1 Billion per year by 2029.
Year Founded: 2021
Stage: Pre-Seed
Location: Santa Cruz, California, USA
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Climate Capital: What made you want to solve this problem?
Will and Alba: Climatize was born from the realization that traditional activism, such as the 2019 Global Climate Strikes, lacked tangible change. After joining over 100,000 protesters, we came to understand that once everyone went home, nothing would be different; reliance on cardboard signs as our best form of protest was a glaring issue.
The problem we're tackling is that small- and medium-sized solar projects, despite their value to communities, often struggle to secure financing. They fall into a gap where they are too large for community lenders, who may not be versed in solar technology or economics, yet too small for the attention of major funders. Moreover, many solar projects are unable to fully utilize their tax credits, resulting in significant wasted value.
Climate Capital: What are you building?
Will and Alba: To solve this, Climatize launched a SEC-registered Funding Portal, which allows it to host renewable energy project developers who can issue debt securities and leverage tax credit transferability provisions through a partnership with Crux. This creates a comprehensive platform where renewable energy developers can receive full-capital stack finance for their projects. Additionally, Climatize features a user-friendly app that enables investors of all sizes to directly invest in energy projects and reduce their tax liability through a unified platform.
Climate Capital: What is next?
Will and Alba: As a skiing analogy, starting Climatize was a double black diamond.
We're a 2 sided marketplace with one side in energy (a regulated market) and the other side in the securities business (another regulated market). We had to secure regulatory membership with FINRA, register with the SEC and then solve the cold start problem.
In an analogy, the 1st project was learning to crawl, 1 to 10 was learning to walk, and now that we're on project #16 where 10 to 100 is learning to run as we accelerate towards scale.
In the first year we've funded nearly $4 million of renewable energy projects, by 2029 we aim to fund $1 Billion per year.
Climate Capital: What are the core elements of the culture you are building at your company?
Will and Alba:
We’re Here to Win Championships
We’re Building a Movement
We Understand the Stakes
We Think Big & Dive Deep
We Achieve More with Less
Climate Capital: What are the key challenges as you scale your company?
Will and Alba: There is an oversupply of renewable energy projects and are now tackling the challenge of scaling our investor network.
Climate Capital: What have you learned that you want to share with other founders?
Will and Alba: Life gives you exactly what you need when you need it, no sooner, no later. If you stay the course and focus on the things that are in your control then you'll find a way to overcome each challenge that comes at you.
Climate Capital: How can the broader climate community help you on your mission?
Will and Alba: Climatize is working to scale our distribution through wealth advisory services, family offices & CPAs. If you have contacts among those groups who would be open to customer discovery & sharing pain points, we would love to learn.
Disclosures: This newsletter is for discussion purposes only, expresses the views of Climatize, and is not investment research. This is not investment advice and does not constitute a solicitation to sell or an offer to buy any securities. Climatize is a Funding Portal registered with the SEC and FINRA, not endorsed by the SEC and FINRA, and is not a Municipal Advisor. Climatize does not provide tax, accounting, or legal advice. Investing in Crowdfunded offerings involves risk and you should review the risks of a particular investment before investing. You are strongly encouraged to consult your professional advisors before investing.
Go to https://www.climatize.earth/ for additional information on services, the crowdfunding portal, regulations, and investment risks. Or, direct inquiries to info@climatize.earth.