LACI Cleantech Debt Fund

Providing non-dilutive debt funding to exceptional startups.

Early-stage startups are often seen as uncreditworthy due to their lack of assets and cash flow, making equity financing their primary option.

This reliance on venture capital for growth leads to several issues: founder dilution, with median founders owning only 15% at exit; inflated equity valuations due to multiple funding rounds; and poor business practices resulting from excessive valuations.

Additionally, these startups often turn to risky alternatives like credit card debt or predatory lending when they can’t forecast all expenses. This challenge is even greater for founders of color, who receive only 2.4% of funding despite representing about 31% of the population.

To bridge this financing gap, we created the LACI Cleantech Debt Fund

Since 2022, we have been deploying non-dilutive loans to finance first customer contracts and working capital as part of a $6 million loan fund. We fund startups in various cleantech sectors through partnerships with incubators across all 50 states.

Our partners include BRITE Energy Innovators, Evergreen Climate Innovators, Greentown Labs, New Energy Nexus, Tennessee Advanced Energy Business Council, Spark Cleantech Accelerator, Third Derivative, and VertueLab.

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