Vancouver-based growth partner firm ClimateDoor is opening a door to massive capital pools and networks for sustainability businesses by acquiring New York-headquartered capital advisory Standard Demand Partners (SDP), its founding partner Nick Findler said.

Started in 2021 by childhood friends Findler and CEO Chad Rickaby, ClimateDoor embeds with early-stage companies in the energy, agriculture and critical resources sectors that are centred on positive environmental impact. ClimateDoor has helped raise over $82 million in capital for the 100-plus ventures it has supported.

ClimateDoor, Findler said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada, serves as a “commercialization engine” that brings its relationships, intellectual property, artificial intelligence systems and team to its clients, helping secure new customers, partners and investors.

The company announced it acquired SDP in early August. SDP, like ClimateDoor, embedded with companies, concentrating on renewable energy, energy storage, decarbonization and digital infrastructure. SDP had supported more than 50 companies and facilitated over $600 million in capital commitments.

Acquiring SDP gives ClimateDoor’s most advanced portfolio companies “access to all of the capital needs to be able to really bring them through their full life cycle,” at a moment when renewables are surging in demand, Findler said.

ClimateDoor's embedded growth services

A self-described “serial entrepreneur, obsessive-type that just really loves building things and solving problems,” Findler is a minority owner of Vancouver-based Stardust Solar Technologies Inc. and Henrik Beverage Systems, the latter being behind an energy-efficient, battery-powered beverage dispenser. He is also a board member and co-founder of Vancouver-based Apogee Minerals Ltd., and founded a merchant bank named GoPublic.AI.

Carrying a background in impact businesses that includes sectors like health and biotechnology, Findler “gravitated towards companies that were in this energy, (agriculture), critical resources space that were trying to make the world better” while being competitive businesses, he said. Thus, he formed ClimateDoor.

Most companies in the three sectors “don’t fail because they have bad technology,” Findler said. Rather, they stumble “because they can’t get the right customer, they can’t get the right partners, they can’t stack the right capital.” The thesis with ClimateDoor, he continued, was to build a team, the systems and tools to bridge that gap.

Findler said ClimateDoor does more than advise; it installs sales, marketing and investor relations teams, executes on strategies its staff design, taps into business relationships and helps close deals.

Its flagship service is integrating a team of three to six to solidify a business target and accomplish the plan. Following that is a partnership or equity stake in the company where ClimateDoor puts its money on the line, with board seats often taken.

The final stage: if the company has secured growth capital and is hoping to exit, announce an initial public offering or make an acquisition, ClimateDoor’s team will assist.

Acquisition gives 'real horsepower' to ClimateDoor

Some of the Canadian companies ClimateDoor has supported are Stardust Solar and Aslan Renewables. For Stardust, ClimateDoor helped it raise $2 million and add another 30 franchise locations.

Europe is another major market for ClimateDoor, where it helps cleantech companies from the continent enter the North American market. One example is Danish 3D-printing construction technology firm Cobod.

ClimateDoor yearned to enter the U.S. market for years because of its abundant risk capital and giant market size, Findler said. SDP and ClimateDoor saw an opportunity to build together, leading to the acquisition, he explained.

ClimateDoor’s portfolio is expected to broaden even further following the transaction. It enables ClimateDoor to better connect its portfolio to SDP’s networks in New York, and nearly doubles its network overall.

Additionally, the acquisition raises ClimateDoor’s headcount from over 30 to approximately 40, giving it “real horsepower” and the “ability to make things happen,” Findler said. SDP’s co-founders Conor Wilmot and Liam Howe have joined ClimateDoor as partners and executives; the other members of SDP have slotted into ClimateDoor.

Findler declined to disclose the value of the transaction.

The timing of the transaction could work in ClimateDoor’s favour. The world is undergoing a massive infrastructure buildout, much of it led by the surge in demand for artificial intelligence, Findler said. This presents an enticing opportunity for cleantech providers to upgrade outdated infrastructure, particularly through renewable energy and energy storage.

“We have gotten to a place in many of these technologies where we’re getting to cost parity or close to cost parity,” Findler said. For this reason, ClimateDoor is concentrating on commercialization, as that is how it believes it can move the dial to more renewable energy generation.