Climatize Sees Major Growth After Pivoting to the US

In May 2021, Will Wiseman and Alba Forns, Co-Founders of the financial technology startup, Climatize, made a major shift that involved pivoting the company from the EU to the United States.

The EU market had been thriving for years with a 5,000,000€ cap; hosting 37 competitors which had collectively invested over 5Bn€. However, the market was fractured because of the 27 different countries, 27 regulators, and 23 unique languages. The complexity was exponentially compounding making it difficult for any company to scale, and especially challenging for a startup.

In April 2021, new US legislation raised the ceiling for Regulated Crowdfunding from $1,070,000 to $5,000,000. The US became an open market: 1 regulator, 1 language, 3 direct competitors. This suddenly made renewable energy crowdfunding more viable than ever and opened up a window of opportunity for Will and Alba.

Despite being primed to start the regulatory process, Climatize took a bold risk and decided to tear down everything they had created in the EU and rebuild again in the US. The pivot was data-driven but it still took a huge leap of faith for Climatize to change the plan so significantly.

Since that pivot, Climatize has rebuilt their project pipeline to >$150M with the support of Jackie Amable, Chante Harris, the amazing teams at Venture for ClimateTech, NextCorps, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency who've helped Climatize tap into a network of project developers. While meeting an array of advisors & investors, Climatize was introduced to Morrison & Foerster, their legal counsel, who has generously agreed to take Climatize through the biggest regulatory hurdles pro bono.

Since arriving in Santa Cruz, Climatize joined Santa Cruz Works’ Accelerator program which has helped Climatize acquire an office space as well as connect to small business advisor and investor, Ed Colligan, the former president and CEO of Palm, Inc, who then introduced Climatize to the local angel network. Climatize has also added two talented software engineers to their team, are beginning community building through Good Climate News, and are seeing early but clear traction. At the end of January 2022, Climatize cashed their first $10,000 angel investment and currently, Climatize has raised $160,000. Climatize has also seen a +44.1% increase in app waitlist sign-ups since February 1st. Climatize continues to experience incredible growth and has seen its execution accelerate. If you want to follow Climatize’s journey, check out their Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and Twitter.