While traditional bank lending often requires strong asset backing, and venture capital targets high-growth return profiles, a large cohort of established, revenue-generating impact businesses sits stuck in the middle — unable to secure capital to scale.
SBN’s 2024 Next Wave report confirmed that access to finance is a major barrier for many sustainable innovators. These businesses struggle to access fit-for-purpose capital that supports both growth and impact. As we prepare the next Next Wave report for release in the coming months, early insights suggest this gap remains acute.
We’re hearing this directly from founders. Matt Black is Co-Founder of Shower Canary (one of the SBN Next list of Awards Finalists from 2024). This business produces a device that senses water flow and encourages households to reduce time in the shower, saving up to 52,500 litres of water each year. He explains:
“With new capital we would be in a position to materially accelerate growth, increase production volumes, and begin structured entry into overseas markets…it would genuinely turbocharge the business.”
In response, SBN is developing the SBN Sustainable Business Fund — a loan fund where repaid loans are continually recycled to support new businesses, offering $50k–$500k of flexible, cashflow-based finance, paired with SBN-led capability and impact support. The Fund is designed to help businesses grow today and position them for mainstream bank lending over time.
Crucially, philanthropic investment will support the Fund in its early years — helping get it off the ground, reduce risk and put the right systems in place so much larger pools of investment can follow over time.
On 17 March, SBN will host a briefing for philanthropists and supporters to share more about this approach and invite early participation in shaping a new chapter of impact finance in Aotearoa New Zealand.
If you care about solving the finance gap that’s holding back our most impactful businesses, we’d love to have you with us.
Contact [email protected] for more information.