Everyone agrees industrial decarbonization is critical.
Steel, cement, chemicals, shipping; these hard-to-abate sectors drive a massive share of global emissions. But when it comes to funding solutions, we’re still trying to use the wrong tools for the job.
VC isn’t going to decarbonize industry. It wasn’t built for 15-year paybacks, asset-heavy pilots, or complex risk allocation. Yet too many founders and funders still treat venture as the default fuel, even when the vehicle is clearly industrial scale.
If we want to scale decarbonization in heavy industry, we need to start with a different question:
What capital structure fits?
The Venture Myth Doesn’t Fit the Metal
There’s a common pattern: A brilliant founder with a novel industrial decarb technology lands early-stage VC, runs a successful demo… and then hits a wall.
Why? Because the next stage isn’t more venture — it’s infrastructure.
Industrial decarbonization isn’t a software curve. It’s capex-heavy, timelines are long, and risk isn’t front-loaded; it’s everywhere.
When VC tries to go alone, you get two outcomes:
- Over-extended startups tying themselves in asset light knots, or
- Promising projects that stall in the "valley of death" between pilot and scale
We need to stop funding industrial solutions like SaaS startups.
Blended Finance Isn’t Optional — It’s Essential
To get from concept to scale, industrial decarb projects need blended capital:
- Concessional and catalytic capital to de-risk early-stage execution
- Grant and public funding to support first-of-a-kind deployments
- Equity to absorb early risk and retain strategic control
- Project-level debt once revenue and offtake are locked in
Each layer has a role. The story matters more than the structure.
And no, this isn’t just for “emerging markets”, it applies in Texas, Rotterdam, and Singapore just as much as it does in Southeast Asia or Latin America.
Industrial Decarbonization Is a Risk Allocation Problem
The core challenge in heavy-industry decarb isn't technology. It’s how risk is held and priced.
- Can you contract your feedstock at predictable prices?
- Will your off taker commit to multi-year terms?
- Can you ringfence technology risk and shift delivery risk to an EPC?
- Is policy risk buffered with public backing or guarantees?
These are capital structuring questions, not engineering ones. Yet many founders don’t address them until they’re already in front of investors.
By then, it’s too late.
FOUNDERS: Build for Bankability, Not Just Breakthroughs
If you’re building in industrial decarbonization, you need to think like a project developer, not just a technologist.
Your capital stack is just as important as your process innovation. The sooner you structure for scale, the sooner real capital can flow.
FUNDERS: Stop Forcing Venture Where Infrastructure Is Needed
Venture capital has a role, but it’s not the lead horse for decarbonizing steel, ammonia, or shipping.
If you want your capital to move the needle, co-create bankable stacks. Work alongside public actors, catalytic capital, and commercial debt.
Don’t just fund the tech. Fund the system that can deliver it at scale.
What Are You Funding — A Pitch or a Platform?
Industrial decarbonization won’t scale with bolt-on VC and hopeful narratives. It needs structure. It needs realism. It needs capital that fits the job.
If you’re serious about funding or building the future of heavy industry, let’s talk.
At Tegro Partners, we specialize in capital structuring for hard-to-abate sectors. Not just helping projects look good, helping them get built.