“Ethical Markets congratulates Generate Capital on this successful $1 billion raise! See my personal quote below, as one of its early investors.
~Hazel Henderson, Editor”
WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT GENERATE
THOUGHT LEADERS/BOARD MEMBERS/INVESTORS
- Richard Kauffman, Chairman, New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA); former Energy Czar, State of New York: “Acceleration of clean energy deployment requires innovation in finance. Small projects, new technologies, multiple counterparties, customer preferences for energy as a service—these are only some of the challenges that clean energy companies need to overcome to get their solutions to market. Generate’s mission is to turn these obstacles into opportunities. With its permanent capital and long-term time horizon, Generate can be a new kind of partner for the pioneers who are building sustainable infrastructure.”
- Lynn Jurich, CEO and Co-founder, Sunrun Inc.: “Today, Sunrun has made solar financing as easy as auto financing. We recognize that customers want more affordable, reliable, and sustainable forms of energy. We also all know that solving our climate crisis involves a massive scale-up of many forms of sustainable infrastructure. I’m proud to help Generate as it pioneers new approaches to building and financing many types of sustainable infrastructure that the capital markets otherwise tend to overlook.”
- Richard Branson, Founder, Virgin Group Ltd.: “When I started the Carbon War Room in 2009, we were being told that we were headed for a 6°C world. Today we are being told that deployment-led innovation has bent that arc to just 3°C – which is still too high. The pioneering work being done at Generate is essential to getting us to the 1.5°C target we owe our children and grandchildren.”
- Raj Atluru, Founder and Managing Director, Activate Capital: “Having been involved with several of the most exciting and successful stories in energy innovation over the past two decades, it was clear that a new type of capital partner like Generate was necessary in order to achieve our ambitious goals of reinventing infrastructure and industry. With its innovative approach to sustainable infrastructure, Generate has delivered on being that different kind of partner. Their team has re-envisioned the energy and industrial ecosystem uniquely and is the best in the industry, period. I’ve been proud to be part of this story since day one.”
- Claire Broido Johnson, Founder and President, CBJ Energy: “When we popularized the modern Solar Power Purchase Agreement at SunEdison, we could have never imagined its impact on the world. Today, Generate is taking our legacy forward and unlocking many other sectors worthy of attention, without which we cannot successfully avoid the most catastrophic impacts of climate change.”
- David Crane, former CEO, NRG Energy: “It has become self-evident that the future of energy in the 21st century is clean, distributed, and much more responsive to emerging technologies. Generate has proven itself one of the few new energy companies with a business model that is responsive to these new dynamics and, as such, is sustainable, scalable, and profitable.”
- Jeremy Oppenheim, Co-founder, SYSTEMIQ Ltd.: “Both at McKinsey and SYSTEMIQ, I have made the case that combatting climate change effectively would take great ingenuity and entrepreneurship, harnessing progressive policy action, markets to scale low-carbon technologies, and financial innovation to accelerate massive investment in a cleaner, more efficient, and socially inclusive economy. Generate is showing that innovative, first-principles thinking can unlock enormous economic, environmental, and social benefits.”
- Dr. Hazel Henderson, Author, Mapping the Global Transition to the Solar Age and other books; CEO, Ethical Markets Media, publisher of the Green Transition Scoreboard® and the global TV series Transforming Finance: “Generate is the first ‘pure play’ platform focusing on shifting mainstream finance away from negative impacts, exemplified by its choice of investments in companies with demonstrated abilities to create, grow, and sustain positive impacts for our common human planetary future. Generate is a successful global game changer.”
- Andrew Winston, Author, The Big Pivot and Green to Gold: “With all of the climate disasters in the news, it is easy to miss the good news on just how many companies and cities have shifted to clean electricity, net-zero food waste, electric vehicles, and other decarbonization strategies. These technologies are here today, and they are enabled and accelerated by flexible, long-term financing along with technical and operational excellence. Generate provides both.”
2019 PLATFORM PARTERSHIP INVESTORS
- Derek Chu, Senior Investments Director, Infrastructure, AustralianSuper: “AustralianSuper is delighted to take a stake in Generate, as sustainable energy and resource infrastructure is vital for growth in the long term. The Generate platform has developed a novel approach to investing in and managing distributed, sustainable infrastructure, delivering real results and a leadership position in this emerging market.”
- Ross Israel, Head of Global Infrastructure, QIC: “Through our sector-centric, thematic investment process, we have seen the need for distributed, sustainable infrastructure build all over the world. Having spent the last several years getting to know Generate, it became clear to us that the platform was highly differentiated in terms of its business model, expertise, and values. We are proud to partner with Generate to continue building its leading sustainable infrastructure platform—one that delivers and innovates real, sustainable solutions for its customers.”
- Helena Olin, Head of Real Assets, AP2: “We have long had a focus on sustainability in all our investments, but in order to increase our impact on the transition to a fossil-free world, we recently set up a new mandate that will invest 100% in sustainable infrastructure. Generate shares our values and we are thrilled to partner with them to continue building a leading platform in the climate and sustainable infrastructure market.”
PARTNERS – TECH COMPANIES & SYSTEMS INTEGRATORS
- Paul Middleton, CFO, Plug Power: “Generate stepped up when we needed them, and they have stuck by us with a long-term commitment. This relationship has been far more than money. They have the flexibility to meet our needs on project equity, inventory financing, and working capital financing.”
- Stella Li, President, BYD Motors Inc.: “Optimizing financing in the electric vehicle space requires flexibility and know-how. Each customer has a different set of requirements, and standardizing takes time and education. Generate has been genuinely helpful.”
- Prakesh Patel, Vice President of Capital Markets and Strategy, Stem, Inc.: “Generate has been a true partner in our growth, with a long-term commitment; the flexibility to provide us with project equity, inventory financing, and working capital; and, as importantly, being more than money by helping us originate new customers in Southern California and delivering to the state the load reduction it needs to manage its energy markets.”
PARTNERS – PROJECT DEVELOPERS
- Brandon Moffatt, Owner and VP—Development & Operations, StormFisher Environmental Ltd.: “As experienced project developers, we have found Generate to be a constructive, long-term partner that actually understands how to tackle the complexity of the waste-to-value market. We’ve taken on new and different projects with them, and we love that they always come with solutions, do what they say they are going to do, and are committed to our joint success.”
- Brad Heitland, Business Development Executive, Solar & Emerging Renewables, M. A. Mortensen Company: “Mortenson’s partnership with Generate started with a phone call that ultimately led to their assistance in executing our first tax equity transaction. The result was our building of two landmark community solar projects in Minnesota, which were among the first in the state. Generate’s commitment to service and their willingness to roll up their sleeves and guide us through the small details is what has helped make our projects successful.”
- Geoff Johnson, Senior Project Developer, Cypress Creek Renewables, LLC: “The New York community solar market has had many twists and turns. Generate worked alongside us to navigate both opportunities and challenges in this growing market. Generate was not just a source of financing; they have been a real partner.”
CUSTOMERS – ENTERPRISES
- Aaron Daly, Global Director of Energy Management, Whole Foods Market Inc.: “Decarbonization is complicated. Generate has the insights and competence to work on any technology that we want to implement, and they’ve delivered.”
- Mark Vanderhelm, Vice President of Energy, Walmart Inc.: “Our collaboration with Generate has helped us to better navigate our resource needs for renewable and energy efficiency projects. With help from Generate’s technology, implementation, and financing, we are meeting our reliability objectives and moving toward our environmental goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in our own operations by 18 percent by 2025.”
CUSTOMERS – CITIES & COMMUNITIES
- Mark Chambers, Director, NYC Mayor’s Office of Sustainability: “This has been an incredibly complicated but worthwhile process. Through it all, Generate has been a diligent partner focused on making New York City’s solar program a success. We appreciate their willingness to truly consider all of the stakeholders and provide scalable solutions.”
- Christopher Farkas, Deputy Superintendent, Operations, Hillsborough County Public Schools: “Doing something truly different requires a great deal of trust. Generate has been a solid partner throughout this process, and their long-term investment approach has allowed us to work together to create a unique solution to reduce energy use, improve sustainability, and prepare our district for tomorrow. We look forward to a long partnership and are excited what the future holds.”