Enduring Planet Pitch Deck Breakdown: All 25 Slides

Introduction and Market Context

Slide 1: Title Slide

The deck opens with a clear value proposition: "AI-driven financing solutions for climate entrepreneurs." Dated October 2021, the slide uses high-quality aerial imagery of a coastline, immediately signaling the sustainability focus. The branding is clean, with a professional logo and a minimalist layout that sets a serious tone for a fintech presentation.

Slide 3: Track Record

Slide 3, titled "Some Investments To Date," establishes immediate credibility by showcasing the founders' or the firm's previous involvement in significant lending and fund-of-funds operations. It lists Lendable ($160M AUM), SunFunder ($170M AUM), and a $1B Climate AUM fund. In the "Startup Lending" category, it highlights M-Kopa ($189M raised), Zola Electric ($315M raised), and d.light ($217M raised). This slide is crucial for a new fund or lending platform as it proves the team has managed large-scale capital before.

Slide 5: Market Growth

This slide focuses on the "Expanding investment by corporates and VCs." It uses two bar charts to show the explosion in the climate sector. Venture investments in climate are shown growing from $4.8B in 2015 to $15.7B in 2020, and reaching $32B "so far" in 2021. Simultaneously, Corporate Net Zero Commitments jumped from just 5 in 2015 to 1,541 in 2020, representing $11.4T in combined revenue. This data justifies the "why now" for a climate-focused lending platform.

Slide 7: Sector Opportunity

Titled "Skyrocketing Startup + SMB Expansion," slide 7 uses headlines and market stats to emphasize the scale of the opportunity. It cites a Refinitiv report stating the global carbon market grew 20% to $272 billion in 2020. It also mentions the Global Clean Energy Technologies Market is projected to reach $452.8 Billion by 2027 and calls "Carbontech" a "trillion dollar opportunity." This slide broadens the scope from just VC-backed startups to the wider SMB market.

The Solution and Technology

Slide 9: The Solution

Slide 9 provides a concise definition of the product: a "Climate-exclusive lending platform providing entrepreneur-friendly capital using the latest automation technology." The use of the term "entrepreneur-friendly" is a subtle nod to revenue-based financing or non-dilutive capital, which is a major pain point for founders who don't want to give up more equity.

Slide 11: ML and Automation

This is the technical core of the deck. Slide 11 details how Enduring Planet uses Machine Learning and automation. It lists "ML/AI Enabled Diligence and Hurdles" and "Active learning with real-time data." A flow chart shows how data from Stripe, QuickBooks, and Square is used to create training and testing datasets for the "EP ML Algorithm." The slide also mentions "Automated ACH Debit" as a way to reduce the risk of non-payment. This slide is designed to convince investors that the platform can scale its underwriting without a proportional increase in headcount.

Slide 13: Investment Criteria

Slide 13, "Key investment criteria | Target business models," is highly specific. It breaks down the target startups into three categories: Mitigation, Removal, and Adaptation. More importantly, it lists the preferred business models: B2B/B2G SaaS, high-margin B2C subscription/e-commerce, hardware with "NO tech risk," and companies with contracted revenue. This level of specificity helps investors understand exactly where the capital will be deployed and what the risk profile looks like.

Roadmap and Team

Slide 15: Timeline

The timeline slide provides a five-year roadmap from 2021 to 2025. It details specific milestones for each year, including capital raises, debt securing, and portfolio growth. For example, in 2022, the goal was to raise $7.5M-$10M in Seed funding and secure $25-$50M in debt. By 2025, the target is a $1B investment portfolio and licensing their ML credit software to other lenders. This shows a clear path from a specialized lender to a broader technology provider.

Slide 17: Team and Board

The team slide features Co-founders Dimitry Gershenson (CEO) and Erin Davis (COO). Their backgrounds include impressive names like Facebook, EV, and FINCA. The board is equally strong, featuring directors with experience at Zola, CIM, and The MBA Fund. The use of logos for their previous employers and educational institutions (UC Berkeley, American Univ) adds another layer of institutional credibility.

Slide 19: Appendix

A simple transition slide for the appendix, maintaining the nature-focused aesthetic of the deck.

Slide 21: Sample VC Partners

Slide 21 displays the logos of "Sample VC partners," including well-known names like Obvious Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, and Climate Capital. This slide serves as a powerful form of social proof, suggesting that these top-tier firms are already working with or referring companies to Enduring Planet.

Slide 23: Equity and Inclusion

In a move that aligns with the values of many climate and ESG investors, slide 23 outlines how Enduring Planet incorporates "Equity/Inclusion" into its scoring criteria. Points are allocated for gender-diverse teams, inclusive HR practices, and serving marginalized groups. This demonstrates that the company's mission goes beyond just environmental impact to include social responsibility.

What Works and What is Missing

What Works

Credibility through association: By listing the massive AUM of their previous projects and the logos of top-tier VC partners, the founders mitigate the risk of being seen as first-time fund managers. · Clear technical differentiation: Slide 11 does a great job of explaining how their "AI-driven" claim actually works in practice, moving beyond buzzwords to show real-time data integration. · Specific target market: Instead of saying they fund "climate," slide 13 gives a precise list of business models and sectors, which makes the underwriting process seem more disciplined. · Aggressive but structured roadmap: The timeline on slide 15 is ambitious, but it breaks down the necessary steps (debt tranches, SPV launches) to get there.

What is Missing

Unit Economics: While the deck mentions "high margin" targets, it doesn't show the projected unit economics of their own lending model—specifically their cost of capital versus their expected yield. · Competitive Landscape: There is no slide comparing Enduring Planet to other climate fintechs or traditional revenue-based lenders like Pipe or Clearco. · The "Ask": While the timeline mentions a $7.5M-$10M Seed round for 2022, the deck itself (at least the 13 slides shown) does not have a dedicated "Ask" slide detailing how the current round's funds will be used. · Loss Assumptions: For a lending business, investors usually want to see projected default rates or how the ML model accounts for downside risk in a volatile market.

Founder Takeaways

Use data to prove the "Why Now": Enduring Planet's use of the $32B climate VC investment stat is a perfect example of how to use macro trends to create urgency. Founders should look for similar "tipping point" data in their own industries. Bridge the gap between vision and operations: The deck moves smoothly from the high-level mission of saving the planet to the nitty-gritty of ACH debits and API hooks. This balance is essential for fintech startups. Don't ignore ESG: For companies in the sustainability space, having a dedicated slide on equity and inclusion (like slide 23) is no longer optional; it's a core part of the value proposition for modern LPs and VCs. Leverage your past: If you have managed significant capital or worked at major firms, make those logos prominent. In lending, trust is the primary currency, and institutional logos are a shortcut to building it.