Banyan Selected to join Elemental Excelerator’s 11th Cohort of Climate Investments
Sustainable financing platform provider Banyan Infrastructure (Banyan) is excited to announce that it has been selected for the 11th cohort of Elemental Excelerator, a nonprofit with an innovative model for funding climate tech deployment. With the financial support of Elemental, Banyan will be able to further leverage its proprietary software to simplify, accelerate, and optimize the financing and development of global sustainable infrastructure.
Elemental launched in 2009 to combat climate change by providing critical investments to growth-stage climate technology companies. The newest cohort of 17 businesses, which were selected from more than 500 applicants in 46 countries, will add to Elemental’s existing investment portfolio of more than 150 companies. Banyan and its fellow cohort members will receive $300,000 to $600,000 in funding from Elemental for strategy or project-specific work.
“Banyan’s transparent and streamlined financing tool solves for inefficiencies in climate financing and with the alignment of the Inflation Reduction Act recently passed Elemental is excited to partner with Banyan during this unparalleled growth opportunity to catalyze funds into climate tech,” said Kim Baker, Director of Innovation, Elemental Excelerator. “With Banyan’s technology the conversation deepens from how much and how fast to what else [other technologies], and how may this impact the various stakeholders involved in a project’s success. It brings communities, financing partners and technology providers together at the same table, on equal footing.”
“We are thrilled to join Elemental and the other mission-driven businesses in this community working towards creating a more sustainable future,” Banyan Cofounder and CEO Will Greene stated. “It is invigorating to be a part of a group of people with the same drive to make a positive impact on the planet and work together to fight climate change.
“With Elemental’s support, we will continue to make more needed technologies bankable and be able to reach the most impacted communities with the Banyan Platform – which makes financing sustainable infrastructure projects much easier and less risky. We are honored and privileged to have such incredible partners as we continue our journey.”
Elemental sees the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as a significant step towards supporting climate solutions, and Banyan is entering a rapid phase of growth and poised to create a new ecosystem for infrastructure development in the climate space. It’s a win-win to fund the climate transition in a manner that creates a transparent platform across multiple sectors and technology solutions so that the communities and businesses can unlock funding that is appropriate and meets localized needs.
By building in localized goals, impact metrics and overall project costs the transparency between the bankers, solution providers, and communities where projects will land, we can define the future and feel confident about sustainable infrastructure portfolios.
About Banyan Infrastructure
Banyan Infrastructure combines financial and technological innovation to accelerate the deployment of solar, wind and other critical infrastructure around the globe. The Banyan Platform oversees and automates the complex and time consuming contractual management of these small distributed assets. Our solution de-risks these assets for lenders, decreases overhead costs, and increases the ability to refinance these projects at a lower cost of capital. This gets more clean-tech installed faster at lower costs.
About Elemental Excelerator
Elemental Excelerator is a leading non-profit investor focused on scaling climate solutions and social impact for all communities. Elemental fills two gaps that are fundamental to tackling climate change: funding first-of-a-kind projects for climate technologies in real communities, and embedding equity and access into climate solutions.