Enduring Planet comes out of stealth to offer founder-friendly debt capital to climate entrepreneurs

PORTLAND, Oregon, May 6, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Enduring Planet, the provider of fast, founder-friendly debt financing to climate startups, has launched from stealth.

The company uses a proprietary, automated online lending platform to provide non-dilutive financing to early-stage businesses focused on addressing the climate crisis.

Climate startups face limited options when it comes to securing the funding they need for their growth. This lack of alternative finance options constrains growth and keeps the world from meeting aggressive decarbonization and adaptation targets by limiting the commercialization of new climate innovations.

Multiple studies show that there is not enough capital invested in the market currently to hit either the 1.5°C or 2°C targets that have been set by the international community. For early-stage companies, the capital that is available is dilutive, expensive, and can actually limit the ability of businesses to effectively develop their solutions.

The credit products that exist on the market today are typically available only to late-stage climate companies, founders with existing personal wealth, or entrepreneurs who have raised money from top quartile venture funds (which is hard to find among the climate-focused investors which are typically only a few years old).

"The world is on fire and capital markets are failing us," says Dimitry Gershenson, the co-founder and chief executive of Enduring Planet.

Founded by Dimitry Gershenson and Erin Davis, Enduring Planet funds entrepreneurs through revenue-based financing without any complex covenants, collateral, or personal guarantee obligations. The company issues term sheets in under a week and can finance a business within thirty days using API integrations with Plaid, Stripe and QuickBooks to make underwriting easier.

The two founders met when Gershenson was at Meta leading the company's Energy Access program and Davis was working at the impact lending institution, SIMA, which she co-founded.

Since Enduring Planet was formed in May 2021, the team has raised a pre-seed round with participation from Climate Capital, Portland Seed Fund, Keiki Capital, KD Venture Partners, Common Sense Fund, Susquehanna Foundation, a large strategic corporate in the clean energy space, and a number of angel investors including Ernie Chow, Greg Richards, and others.

Enduring Planet also recently completed the first close of its pilot debt facility, Enduring Climate Fund 1, with support from a number of family offices, private foundations, and high net worth individuals. This also includes contributions invested from a pooled Donor Advised Fund by ImpactAssets.

The lender has backed two teams so far, New Sun Road and Aquaoso, with plans to lend over $5 million through the next 12 months.

"Enduring Planet is changing how to support and invest in climate entrepreneurs. Every sector of our economy needs a face-lift; as we undergo this climate transition, we believe it should be done equitably and inclusively," says Davis. "We estimate there are thousands of climate entrepreneurs who lack the right types of capital to scale. We're changing this in a way that's inclusive and gets money into the hands of underrepresented founders, managers, and companies serving underserved communities."

For more information, please contact [email protected]

SOURCE Enduring Planet Inc