Who do you go to for the money and when?
When you're scaling up from Lab to Nth-of-a-Kind (NOAK), understanding the capital stack is crucial. The picture from the Sightline Climate FOAK guide is a useful rough guide to the funding types available at different stages:
💡 Catalytic Capital:
- Stage: Lab and Pilot
- Description: Patient, risk-tolerant, and flexible investment capital that supports high-risk, innovative technologies.
🏛️ Government Funding:
- Stage: Lab, Pilot, and beyond
- Description: Non-dilutive grants and loans, often provided by agencies like the DOE in the U.S., to support R&D and early commercialization.
🚀 VC & Growth Capital:
- Stage: Demo
- Description: Venture capital for early-stage companies and growth equity for scaling climate tech startups or acquiring significant stakes in them.
🏢 Strategic Investors:
- Stage: FOAK
- Description: Corporates, such as those in oil & gas or industrial sectors, investing directly to scale technologies that align with their business.
💰 Project Finance:
- Stage: NOAK
- Description: A mix of debt (typically 60-80%) and equity (20-40%), used to finance the large-scale rollout of proven technologies.
The journey from FOAK to NOAK is about more than just technology—it's about matching your stage with the right type of capital to keep the momentum going.
Get your FOAK guide here: https://www.sightlineclimate.com/foak-guide