Wells Fargo Grant Boosts New Financing Partnership Between Elemental Excelerator and NYCEEC to Catalyze Climate Technology Innovation

The collaboration will fund climate technology companies scaling solutions focused on community impact

NORTHAMPTON, MA / ACCESSWIRE / March 6, 2024 / Wells Fargo, together with Elemental Excelerator, a leading nonprofit climate technology investor, and the New York City Energy Efficiency Corporation (NYCEEC), a leading nonprofit green bank, have joined forces to launch a new debt financing program, called the Capital Access for Climate Innovators. The Capital Access Program was created to pilot innovative lending and co-investing vehicles to catalyze climate technology projects with significant community benefits.

This collaboration aims to address funding gaps faced by climate technology companies, and particularly those led by traditionally excluded founders. Elemental and NYCEEC are partnering to identify and provide capital to Elemental portfolio companies who face finance gaps on their path toward commercialization and where debt capital can catalyze scale. To support this effort, Wells Fargo has provided a $400,000 grant, which will allow Elemental and NYCEEC to identify and share best practices and build financing tools and resources for climate technology companies, community lenders, credit enhancement providers and other project investors.

"There's an acute need for new kinds of financing and collaborations to support technology companies that are working to reduce GHG emissions," said Curtis Probst, CEO of NYCEEC. "This partnership will help us create greener, cleaner and more affordable communities. We are excited to partner with Elemental to bring NYCEEC's green lending to Elemental's portfolio of climate tech innovators."

"At Elemental, we are profoundly aware of a $150 billion financing gap for climate technology projects scaling from early stage to widespread commercial adoption. With this partnership designed to reduce friction in accessing capital, we take an important step to bridge this gap and accelerate the deployment of climate projects with strong community benefits, like reduced utility bills, cleaner air, and more accessible transportation," said Dawn Lippert, Founder and CEO of Elemental Excelerator.

Over the past decade, Elemental has supported over 150+ innovative climate technology companies through technical support and equity investments, while NYCEEC has provided debt financing to assist building owners, contractors, and developers in funding clean energy projects throughout NYC and the surrounding region. Through coordinated efforts, this partnership aims to supercharge the growth of climate technology companies and rapidly scale the number of projects they are able to deploy in communities throughout the country.