Financial technology company revolutionizing clean energy investment recognized for its work to expand access to tax-credit financing for clean energy projects in the commercial & industrial segment of the market, which has historically been underserved by investors in the U.S
SAN FRANCISCO, April 30, 2025 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Evergrow, a financial technology company revolutionizing clean energy investment, has been recognized as one of the winners of the Yes SF Urban Sustainability Challenge, an initiative of the World Economic Forum. Evergrow was recognized for its work to expand access to tax-credit financing for clean energy projects in the commercial & industrial segment of the market, which has historically been underserved by investors in the U.S.
"This recognition highlights our innovative approach to accelerating climate action by making tax-credit financing more accessible, reliable, and scalable," said James Richards, CEO of Evergrow. "Our mission—to unlock capital for every solar energy and battery storage system in the country—is transforming how clean energy projects are funded and brought to life here in California and across the U.S."
Launched in 2023, Yes SF is a collaborative initiative by the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, the World Economic Forum's UpLink platform for global innovation, Deloitte, Salesforce, and Citi. The program aims to revitalize downtown San Francisco by supporting innovative companies that offer groundbreaking solutions in urban sustainability. For its second San Francisco challenge, Yes SF selected 12 Top Innovators from over 200 applicants and proposals.
"At Evergrow, we believe every community deserves the opportunity to participate in and benefit from the clean energy transition," said Richards. "Recognition by the World Economic Forum and Yes SF validates the work we're doing to turn existing real estate into sites of clean energy production and storage. We do this by simplifying clean energy finance, so that commercial property owners don't have to find a buyer, negotiate a deal, or become experts on the documentation and diligence that's required for a tax finance—we do the hard parts, and they get the funding they need to build on-site clean energy."
Evergrow's innovation addresses a key barrier in the U.S. clean energy ecosystem: the complexity and exclusivity of energy tax finance. The Inflation Reduction Act aimed to democratize tax-credit finance by making clean energy tax credits transferable, meaning that taxpayers who earn the credits by building a clean energy asset on their property can pay for some of those up-front costs by selling their credits to investors. But investors still have to conduct due diligence on sellers and their projects to mitigate the risk of IRS recapture of the credits. For sellers of smaller, community-scale projects, these underwriting costs made tax-credit finance inefficient. Likewise, America's 4,000+ regional banks couldn't efficiently access the tax savings that come from tax-credit investment due to staffing constraints and high transaction costs.
Evergrow removes these obstacles by using technology to conduct project diligence at scale, unlocking capital for clean energy installations at schools, churches, farms, offices, apartment buildings, and other commercial properties—projects previously deemed too small for investors. Evergrow aggregates these community-scale projects into investment portfolios of any size for regional banks and other tax-credit investors, providing them with tax savings they can reinvest locally in their communities. Unlike a broker or a tax-credit marketplace, Evergrow offers a turnkey product for both buyers and sellers.
The Yes SF Urban Sustainability Challenge highlights solutions like Evergrow's that have the potential to scale rapidly across San Francisco and other communities with net-zero goals. Evergrow's selection underscores its role in enabling climate resilience and equity through financial innovation.
The award was presented as part of UpLink's efforts to celebrate and support the most impactful entrepreneurs tackling the world's most pressing sustainability challenges. As a Yes SF Top Innovator, Evergrow joins a global network of change-makers working to accelerate progress toward a net-zero future. For more information about Evergrow, visit www.evergrow.com.
About Evergrow
The Evergrow team brings together experience and expertise from artificial intelligence, clean energy project finance, product design, and financial technology. In 2021, our founder James Richards invested in a solar energy project located on a public high school in Los Angeles. The school needed an investor to provide capital in exchange for the tax credits from its project. James realized firsthand how difficult it is to fund clean energy projects at community scale and decided to launch a company dedicated to making it easier and faster for business owners to lower their electricity costs and achieve energy independence through on-site clean energy production and storage. For more information, please visit www.evergrow.com.
Media Contact
William McCue, Evergrow, 1 1+ 7182087391, [email protected], evergrow.com
William McCue, McCuenications PR, 1 7182087391, [email protected], www.mccuenicationspr.com
SOURCE Evergrow
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