NREL.GOV — Now in its seventh year, the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) is now a $50 million program. It was designed from the start to consider a diverse cross section of start-ups—many of which might appear risky to traditional venture capitalists—collect them into cohorts, connect them with technological expertise, and ultimately accelerate their clean technologies to the marketplace.
In 2014, Wells Fargo and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) designed the blueprint for taking promising energy efficiency innovations, de-risking them, and delivering them to market for the benefit of everyone and to accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy. A couple of years after its original investment of $10 million, Wells Fargo doubled down and pumped an additional $20 million into IN2 and has recently stayed the course with yet another $20 million. But the funding does not end with Wells Fargo’s philanthropy. An important part of IN2’s “ecosystem approach” to accelerating clean technologies involves bringing in other foundations and investors, customers, and cleantech market experts. And it is working. The program enjoys an impressive 33:1 funding leverage rate, meaning that for every dollar Wells Fargo invests in the program, $33 originate in terms of independent investments.
Read more on NREL.gov.