Hardware Podcasts

Financing first-of-a-kind climate assets

Catalyst · 21 Dec 2023 · 46m

What this episode covers

David Yeh, a climatetech investor with experience at the White House, Generation Investment Management, and CIBC, explains the structural difficulties of financing first-of-a-kind (FOAK) climate assets, where venture capital is too expensive and infrastructure finance is too risk-averse. He outlines solutions including off-balance-sheet financing, government programs like the DOE’s LPO, and catalytic capital from entities like Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, using Climeworks and LanzaJet as examples of successful scaling. Yeh emphasizes that entrepreneurs must adopt project finance DNA, secure long-term offtake agreements, and code-switch their language to appeal to traditional bankers, while planning for a transition from FOAK to scalable development companies (DevCos).

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Climeworks, LanzaJet, Energy Hub, Arbor Energy, Antora, Sublime, Sun Power, Mongrid, Fervo, Blackstone, Energy, BayWa r.e., Sungrow, Infinium, American Airlines, Citigroup
Products
Green Cement, Sustainable Aviation Fuel, Green Hydrogen, Direct Air Capture
Also
Breakthrough Energy Catalyst, DOE, LPO, IRA

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