IBM, Raise Green develop digital tool to empower climate entrepreneurs

The Originator Engine is a first-of-its-kind SaaS solution that empowers climate entrepreneurs to start and finance their businesses and local climate projects by equipping them with the necessary tools and resources. It automates the process of creating a solar energy project by templatizing and aggregating legal and financial documents.

Raise Green, the impact investment marketplace for green infrastructure and clean energy projects has partnered with IBM to develop a digital tool aimed at empowering climate entrepreneurs to start their own solar energy businesses, the latter said on Friday.

IBM worked with Raise Green to jointly develop and deploy a proof-of-concept for the tool called "Originator Engine" in just eight weeks via IBM Garage, an end-to-end model for fast-tracking innovation at scale.

The Originator Engine is a first-of-its-kind SaaS solution that empowers climate entrepreneurs to start and finance their businesses and local climate projects by equipping them with the necessary tools and resources. It automates the process of creating a solar energy project by templatizing and aggregating legal and financial documents.

Raise Green's Originator Engine software provides a step-by-step guide to start and successfully run new solar businesses in four phases:

• Create: The software solution guides a project creator through complex corporate obstacles to help them turn their project idea into a real business that’s ready for funding
• Fund: An originator gets access to Raise Green’s crowdfunding platform to finance their project, allowing anyone to invest
• Build: With the funds raised, an originator continues to develop and manage the project with guidance from Raise Green
• Run: An originator sees the ongoing, direct impact of their project, gathering invaluable knowledge and experience along the way

"Raise Green is designed to empower communities tired of waiting for action on climate and social impact. IBM is helping us bring this innovation to life by designing a smooth user experience that makes starting a new business straightforward while enabling us to expand into areas beyond solar like template microgrids, energy efficiency, electric vehicle charging, urban farms, and affordable housing," said Franz Hochstrasser, CEO and co-founder of Raise Green.

Deployed using Red Hat OpenShift on IBM Cloud, the latest rollout of the Beta version of Originator Engine follows an initial launch announced in August 2020.