Raise Green, the climate investment platform based out of Greentown Labs in Somerville, MA, today announced the close of a $1.2 million seed round financing. The funds will be used to expand its IDC award-winning tech platform and accelerate its marketing efforts to reach more audiences for local and national climate action.
The company also announced its partnership with Onyx Renewable Partners L.P., a leading clean energy company and decarbonization solutions provider focusing on the commercial and industrial sector in North America. Additionally, as part of its new Raise Green Impact Partners program, Raise Green has partnered with an undisclosed asset manager to expand financing and deployment of solar, energy efficiency, and climate tech ventures.
Raise Green’s fintech software and services help connect heroic climate entrepreneurs with incentives and community financing to reduce the soft-costs associated with project financing and early-stage venture capital. Incentives and tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, which boasts a record $370 billion in federal funding for climate solutions, decrease climate technology costs by 40% on average, making projects and companies financed on the Raise Green marketplace more profitable and attractive. Onyx Renewables and Raise Green will collaborate to access these incentives and accelerate project finance and deployment.
The newly launched Raise Green Impact Partners program will identify climate and clean energy leaders, influencers, and youth ambassadors to help spread the word about opportunities to invest in, raise capital for, and own a piece of the clean energy infrastructure being built across the country. And more than half of the companies listed on Raise Green are led by minority and/or women executives, which is more than 10 times the average rate in venture capital.
“At Raise Green, we make it easy for anyone to invest directly into climate projects, whether its community solar, energy efficiency for small business, or other solutions with demonstrable social and environmental benefits,” said Franz Hochstrasser, CEO, Raise Green. “Our potential partners come from all walks of life – venture capitalists, university students, entrepreneurs, and community leaders – and are committed to investing in clean energy projects that can move the needle on combating climate change.
Earlier this year, the SEC and FINRA-registered marketplace for local impact investing surpassed the $5 million mark, connecting capital from thousands of retail, accredited, and institutional investors to the project finance developers and climate tech entrepreneurs contributing to the clean energy transition.
“According to Morgan Stanley, 85% of individual investors and 99% of Millennials want more sustainable investing options,” continued Hochstrasser. “Raise Green makes sustainable investing possible for these folks by opening our investor marketplace to accredited, non-accredited, institutional, corporate and individual investors—and for as little as a $100 investment.”
The Raise Green Impact Partners program is accepting applications until October 28th. For more information or to apply, visit www.raisegreen.com/impact-partners.
About Raise Green
Raise Green is the first marketplace in the U.S. for local and inclusive impact investment with verifiable and demonstrable environmental benefits. Through the platform, anyone can be an originator of their own community solar project. On Raise Green's investor marketplace, anyone (individuals and institutions) can invest in community-focused climate resilience projects across a varied range of project scales and minimum investments. Early investors in Raise Green are veterans of the renewable energy industry and project financing. Investors can derive value while at the same time creating quantifiable impacts in local communities, as well as receiving financial returns if the project is successful. For more information, go to RaiseGreen.com.