We finance what we know
 Waste-to-Value, especially tire pyrolysis, biomass-to-biochar, waste-to-energy, ammonia to green hydrogen and other resource recovery. |  Renewable Energy (solar, wind, small hydro, geothermal generation, energy efficiency & management, or storage such as hydrogen). See Waste-to-Value for fuels. |  Sustainable and “climate smart” Food Systems, including water, Regenerative, Organic, minimal tillage farming plus Supply Chain innovations. |  Commercial Real Estate, mainly green buildings, affordable and low-carbon housing, regenerative design, innovative building materials, smart cities & communities. |
Key themes: Sustainable infrastructure, nature-based carbon capture and sequestration, holistic health and well-being, nutritious food systems and food / water / energy security, housing security, solving waste and inefficiency (to reduce carbon and/or costs), climate change mitigation and reversal. See Investment Strategy.
Does your sector qualify?
We are largely agnostic about vertical markets that can give rise to excellent projects or entire portfolios worthy of support and funding. We are open for business in more than 30 known sectors. So long as the project does not cause or perpetuate social or environmental harm, we will listen and consider without prejudice or agenda, paying extra attention to
- Anticipated upside benefits, with reasonable risk (see below) — financial returns are an excellent starting point, and are there social and/or environmental benefits to be realized? How do you measure them?
- Potential for scale — we prioritize making a difference by deploying serious amounts of capital (well into the US$ billions range) to improve sustainability worldwide, though infrastructure, green buildings, regeneration of soils and habits, and other facets of the Sustainable Development Goals.
- Reasonable risk — given these motivations, traditional project finance looks carefully at all the risk factors, seeking to mitigate every conceivable thing that could go wrong. For flagship CAP funding, by contrast, the stage of readiness really doesn’t matter (anything beyond just an idea could qualify), so we have great flexibility in ways that traditional project financiers simply do not. With a verifiably feasible business case (a degree of certainty that the project will reliably meet or exceed performance targets), we will take in the file and attempt to find a mutually agreeable arrangement to fund, up to 100% of what’s required.
- In3 services — If we can add value beyond the funding itself, that would put your opportunity ahead of others that do not invest in our assistance to secure funding. For example, is your MS Excel financial model fully IFRS compliant? If you are not sure, the answer is probably “no” as there is a lot to know. Some Certified Accounts without project financial experience won’t be able to help.
This fee-based assistance is by no means required, but sometimes our expertise does match up with what our clients realize they need to improve.
What sectors are off the table?
Sometimes it is easier to define a “Sweet Spot” by saying what we won’t support, for the reasons stated above: Oil & Gas (lower-carbon, renewable alternatives to fossil resources are now proven and available, more sustainable, with adequate economic upsides and lower long-term risks), Crypto currencies (mostly because of the energy consumption), Weapons, Tobacco, Gambling, conflict diamonds, anything illegal … to help set expectations, here’s a list of what In3 will not fund.
For project funding that involves In3 premium services, which would require that we roll up our sleeves and take on contractual duties to help secure guarantees for funding, bespoke services such as auditing and improving a project’s pro forma financial model, vetting due diligence materials to increase the odds of reaching financial close … we prefer to focus on what we know. That’s at least 30 diverse sectors.
Guarantee Facilitation In3 versus In3’s “Done For You” (DFY) Premium Services
We will help developers/owners facilitate their own guarantee, to a point. We make all the materials and know-how available online for free, and firmly believe in open access to the practical knowledge and sharing hard-won experience with using bank-involved financial instruments to gain access to advantageous project funding. We do not charge anything up front to determine if you have a feasible instrument to propose, and will find ways to solve most garden-variety obstacles that tend to arise when the developer/owner must use another party’s guarantee for their own project. See “sponsor tips” here.
It is an entirely different role for In3 to assist with originating a guarantee used as security on behalf of a client’s project, which is described here. We hold such “Done For You” (DFY) service clients to a much higher standard than if they bring their own guarantee because DFY puts our reputation on the line. The guarantor’s expectations are going to be tougher and far more stringent than our funding partner’s.
We only provide DFY services for experienced developers working in industry sectors that we know. This includes utility-scale solar, wind, storage, offshore wind, green building materials, small hydro, geothermal (once the finding risk is mitigated), waste-to-value (recovery of industrial materials such as rCB from rubber tires, or activated carbon from woody biomass), waste-to-energy, regenerative or “ecological” (sustainable) real estate, and related supply chain or new carbon capture and sequestration materials innovations.
Note: All renewables are accepted, plus SMR nuclear, but we know the above sectors the best, and thus have the strongest network ties for guarantees. more
Growing sectors: Commercial real estate, green hydrogen and fuel cells, advanced tire pyrolysis, refuse-derived fuel (RDF), smart grids/meters, other sustainable infrastructure, tidal and wave power, regenerative agriculture, climate-smart / sustainable agriculture and food systems.
For rapid CAP funding pre-qualification, deliver our first 3 “essentials” to get started, which are:
1) Project name, total budget and funding request in $ or €
2) Uses of funds – categories and amounts / percentages (sample format), and
3) Proposed completion assurance Guarantee type and wording. Download the relevant template(s). More on guarantees and how to arrangement them here.
Our online system allows you to apply and discover for yourself if this funding is going to work for your project. If not, consider In3’s alternatives for 100% mid-market Project Funding.
If no guarantee can be obtained, consider In3’s premium “Done For You” Services, start here.