50 Investible Opportunities for a New Nature Economy 2026

Financial institutions enable scale-up of ecosystem opportunities using a range of instruments tailored to different actors. For established corporates and infrastructure providers, typical instruments include commercial loans, and sustainability-linked loans and bonds. For early-stage innovators, venture capital and private equity are more appropriate. Successful innovators may later be acquired by corporates as part of the innovation cycle. Range of financing mechanisms to support different players within ecosystem opportunities BOX 6 Example transactions in the battery recycling market Financing modelDeal type Synthesis Example targets Example investors Commercial/ sustainability- linked financingCorporate bondsBonds with coupon rate between 4%-6% and medium-term maturity between 3-5 years. n.a. Green bond Short-term debtDebt with interest rate between 4.4-5.2% and short-term maturity of 1 year. n.a. Early-stage investmentsGrant From 2022-2024, grant funding predominantly ranged from €1-12 million per deal. However, several 2024 deals funded by the US Department of Energy were notably larger ($150-200 million) Seed Over the last three years, seed funding deal sizes have been in the range of €1-11 million. This is seen in European, North American and Asian markets. Series A Series A funding saw popularity in 2024. However, deal size differentiated greatly between projects and regions. Multiple deals out of Europe and North America sat in the range of €15-30 million; one deal was for €55 million, while other deals ranged from €1-10 million. Series B Series B funding saw a deal worth >€500 million in Europe in 2020. From 2022-2024, deal sizes ranged between €13-14 million and €30- 45 million – across both Asia and North America. Unspecified roundExcluding deals with public sector investors, globally, unspecified round type deals were in the range of €1-20 million over the course of 2021-2025. Venture debtDeal sizes for venture debt investments were considerably larger across Europe and North America from 2021-2023. The range was €80-380 million. 32 50 Investible Opportunities for a New Nature Economy