excerpt taken from Green Business article:
Funding a Startup
Prior to 2000, there weren't many tax incentives for entrepreneurs to green their ventures. Now, Matt Becker, the head of BDO's Green Energy Tax Practice, says President Obama's budget proposal for 2011 includes about $40 billion in loan guarantees for innovative clean-energy programs. Funding for solar and wind development has increased 22 percent and 53 percent, respectively. New Energy Finance estimates that clean-energy companies took advantage of $96 billion in venture and private equity funding from 2002 through 2008.
But before this rush of media attention and dollars to clean tech, small-business owners like Emily Kroll were bootstrapping to produce eco-friendly goods under the radar. Kroll started making sustainable furniture in the 90s, but incentives weren't available in her industry then.
Trying to raise capital for EKLA (eklahome.com) four years ago, Kroll was turned away by several venture capitalists who said hers was a vanity project because it wasn't part of the green energy movement. Yet with home furnishings among the top grossing industries in the U.S. economy from the 90s on, Kroll was determined to continue her eco-conscious manufacturing processes. She finally found a Swedish angel investor and got a first installment of funds just as the market was sliding. "I ended up having to launch my company on a quarter of my original angel funds and $25,000 in SBA guaranteed loans."
Undaunted, Kroll supplemented her initial funding with credit cards. Now, she says, "We are the cleanest sustainable furniture manufacturer in the United States, and my business grew by 200 percent in 2009. I feel that if people are going to buy new furniture, they buy sustainable if the price is right."
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