Lara Pierpoint, Managing Director of Trellis Climate, was featured in a recent Economist Impact report, Catalyzing Investment for Advanced Energy Technologies. The report highlights how investor appetite for clean energy is growing and enabling technologies like storage and nuclear are gaining traction across global markets. Lara emphasized the urgency of accelerating deployment, noting that “The planet needs a rapid buildout of existing technologies, at a much faster pace than we are currently building.” The report, supported by the EFI Foundation, draws on insights from 300 global investors and explores the catalytic mechanisms needed to unlock private capital for critical clean energy solutions.

Since its launch in spring 2024, Trellis Climate has been on a mission to support climate technologies building first-of-a-kind (FOAK) projects. Over the last few years, the funding gap faced by climate companies in the early commercialization stage has been well documented and often discussed, yet limited capital has moved to fill the void. The core of the issue is a mismatch between the risk-return profile of FOAK projects and what is required by venture capital and project finance to invest. Broader market trends have also made the funding gap more acute. Significant uncertainty has emerged for much of the government funding for companies at this stage, and venture funding for climate tech has slowed significantly since its 2021 peak. Amid these headwinds, Trellis Climate is stepping in with catalytic capital to help advance promising high-impact technologies that are working to bridge this funding gap. 

Amidst the current landscape, Trellis Climate is thrilled to announce that it made its first two catalytic investments in climate companies building FOAK projects: Nitricity, a company producing low-emission fertilizer, and Tandem PV, a company making next generation, highly efficient solar panels. 

Trellis Climate’s Lara Pierpoint spoke with Jeva Lange about how Trellis’ donors are facing the increasingly complex landscape for those committed to advancing climate solutions.

Nitricity’s latest project—a FOAK organic fertilizer plant in California—is demonstrative of how Trellis Climate aggregates philanthropic capital for catalytic investments, making it easier and more effective for charitable asset owners to step up. Trellis Climate’s investment into Nitricity not only supports a pioneering climate solution but also exemplifies the key design elements that we’re building into Trellis itself.  We see these attributes as critical to addressing the FOAK capital gap in a systemic way, as these are missing in a field where more and more actors are noticing and working to alleviate the FOAK financing gap.

We’re thrilled to announce that Trellis Climate, our project finance program, has been named a Bezos Earth Fund Greenhouse Gas Removal Ideation Prize winner!

The winning proposal, "Increasing funding for first-of-a-kind carbon dioxide removal projects by deploying novel insurance products," tackles one of the toughest challenges in scaling climate infrastructure: bridging the commercialization valley of death.

We’re thrilled to share that Lara Pierpoint, Managing Director of Trellis Climate, has been recognized in the 2024 Fin-Erth Women in Climate List!

Lara was nominated by Samia Qader, host ofthe Climate Tech 360 podcast, for her outstanding work in unlocking climate solutions. This recognition highlights her contributions alongside 100 other incredible women from around the globe who are driving meaningful progress in climate and sustainability.

Heatmap’s Katie Bringham features Trellis Climate and Managing Director Lara Pierpoint in a recent article about the ways investors are addressing climate tech’s missing middle.

ImpactAlpha recognized Trellis Climate among six women-led funds capitalizing the commercialization of climate tech.

Semafor’s Tim McDonnell asked Lara Pierpoint, Managing Director of Trellis Climate, “What's the most helpful thing philanthropy in particular can do to scale climate tech?” Read her response in this edition of the Semafor Net Zero Newsletter.

Prime's catalytic capital program, Trellis Climate, was listed by the Carbon Herald among the solutions presented at SF Climate Week to "get great climate tech companies to market".

Lara Pierpoint sat down with TechCrunch’s Tim De Chant to discuss the substantial challenges startups encounter in securing the funding needed to build their pioneering projects.

Trellis Climate was listed in CTVC’s SF Climate Week roundup among “new entrants in catalytic funding, building new FOAK financing vehicles and programs to fill the funding gap in the ‘missing middle.’”

Latitude Media Says Prime’s new catalytic capital program, Trellis Climate, offers a leg up for FOAK cleantech projects.

ImpactAlpha Highlights Trellis Climate’s Solution To Climate Tech's FOAK Finance Gap.

TechCrunch features Prime Coalition’s Trellis Climate, a catalytic capital program designed to accelerate the deployment of first-of-a-kind climate projects through catalytic capital.

Prime Coalition announces Trellis Climate to accelerate deployment of first-of-a-kind climate projects through catalytic capital.