96. Dimitry Gershenson on Extending Credit to Climate Tech Startups

Purpose and Profit with Kathy Varol

Dimitry Gershenson is the CEO and co-founder of Enduring Planet, a fintech platform that offers founder-friendly working capital and financial advisory services to climate startups and SMEs.

Prior to Enduring Planet, Dimitry led M&A and served as COO for Rango Wireless, an Enduring Ventures portfolio company. Before that, Dimitry built Meta’s Energy Access program, a $15M+ investing initiative that enabled energy access for 3M people and unlocked nearly $500M in additional capital in underserved markets like Kenya and India

Beyond his role at Enduring Planet, Dimitry sits on the board of Ecosafi, a Lowercarbon-backed climate startup enabling clean cooking in emerging markets.

In this episode, we discuss:

● What bridge financing is

● The different financing tools available for climate tech start-ups

● Why Enduring Planet started offering bookkeeping and fractional CFO services to climate start-ups

Key Takeaways:

● Bridging the Climate Finance Gap: Addressing climate change requires substantial financial investment. We are building things that have never been built before, and solving challenges that have never been solved before. US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen suggests that achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 necessitates annual investments of approximately $3 trillion. However, in their own study, Moody's states that current funding levels fall significantly short, with a gap of about $2.7 trillion per year projected by 2030. This shortfall hampers efforts to mitigate climate impacts and underscores the need for increased investment from both public and private sectors to build a sustainable future.

● The Power of a Complementary Co-Founder: Launching a startup demands a diverse set of skills, often too extensive for one person to manage alone. Finding a co-founder with complementary abilities can be crucial to a startup's success. This partnership allows for shared responsibilities, diverse perspectives, and a balanced workload, setting the foundation for a resilient and dynamic business. Also, with the mindset of true collaboration, it’s more likely that a leader will share equity equitably across all individuals that are building and contributing to the start-up.

● Embracing Unexpected Opportunities: In the entrepreneurial journey, unexpected opportunities can arise when least anticipated. A potential partner might agree to collaborate despite previous indications otherwise, or a chance encounter could lead to a pivotal breakthrough. Maintaining an open mindset allows you to recognize and seize these moments of serendipity, turning unforeseen possibilities into tangible successes. Stay open to possibility, stay open to things working out for you, stay open to being delightfully surprised

References:

● Connect with Dimitry on LinkedIn

● Enduring Planet

● World Resources Institute (WRI)

● Power for All

● Enduring Ventures

● Photon Marine

● Circuit

● Dollaride

● Sparkz

● Blip Energy

● Project K

● Kinetix

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