You’ve met climate tech founders around the world and built a solid network of fellow founders and mentors in the climate space. Now it’s time to really rake in the cash. No small feat. We have a few resources that can help you pitch and accelerate your fundraising.
💰 Discover different funding options
Venture capital is not the only way to go. There are other options that don’t require cozy-ing up to investors.
What is soft-funding?
What are the options out there?
So is soft-funding right for you? We’ve created a map and database of non-dilutive funding options for climate tech. It can help you navigate the multiple grant/award programs that have been established by tech companies, industry associations, and governments across the world.
Prefer a more traditional route?
We have a number of resources that can be of help.
Fine tune your investor outreach
🚀 Explore accelerator programs
Accelerators and incubators are great ways to drive your startup forward, but what’s the difference?
Incubator – an incubator is often located in a physical space that provides a place for startups to grow by also giving them resources, equipment, mentorship, a collaborative community, and potential investment connections. More often, incubators take companies that are very early stage and still need to develop a product or business model.
Accelerator – an accelerator program is for existing companies to expedite their growth. These companies already have business models or a product. The accelerator offers many of the similar resources as an incubator including co-working spaces, legal services, access to industry influencers, and coaching. They often also grant a seed investment in return for a stake in the companies within their programs.
There are dozens of climate-tech specific incubators and accelerators. We update accelerator deadlines on our events page, so that you can always keep track of what applications are coming up.
We have included a few other resources you can use to explore accelerator programs.
ClimateTech VC
ClimateTech VC has a running list of 40+ Accelerator programs that is updated regularly.
Lean Ventures
The Lean Ventures is a blog that runs a biweekly list of upcoming deadlines for impact entrepreneurs with any prizes, incubators, and accelerators that may be relevant.
Accelerators Database
We’ve created two blogs on the subject and a database with over 75 accelerators, accessible to members on their dashboard. You can check out the full database, or just browse upcoming deadlines. All deadlines are also added to our events page.
🎤 Practice your pitch
Perfecting your pitch is difficult, but is also integral. How to sum up what you can offer, and months’, even years’ worth of work in three minutes? What visuals should you include? How should the pitch be structured? What are some tips for delivering it? What kind of questions should you expect from investors?
These are all really tough questions and hard to get to the bottom of. We have produced a number of blog posts that may be of help.
If you feel you need a bit more guidance, fear not! We have just what you need. We offer a number of resources specifically dedicated to help you perfect your pitch.
Think you’ve got your pitch in the bag? Come test out your pitching skills in front of real investors. Every quarter we host a pitch competition in front of a jury of investors who offer feedback on your pitch and on your product. Come join us for our next round!
🤝 Fast-track your fundraising
Fundraising is no easy task. We get it. We’re here to help make introductions. Join our Fund for the Future and we will go over your materials, and connect you with some investors that match your vertical. Let us help you get your foot in the door!
