It’s a challenge every startup faces: They’ve made a prototype and proven the thing works, but now have to sell the product and produce enough to get past the “valley of death” that kills so many companies.
“They are chicken and egg stuck,” Josh Felser, co-founder and managing partner of early-stage venture firm Climactic, told TechCrunch.
The hurdle is particularly high for companies making physi...
The strongest version of this narrative is that Material Scale represents a much-needed innovation in climate tech financing. Traditional venture capital often fails hardware and materials startups because it prioritizes rapid scaling and software-like margins, which don’t apply to physical production. Felser’s model addresses this by creating a market-making mechanism that de-risks production for startups while giving buyers access to cutting-edge materials. The hybrid debt-equity structure is ...