Disclaimer: The information contained in this post is sponsored by CSC Leasing. The content represents the views of CSC Leasing and does not necessarily reflect the views of Foodbytes or Rabobank. The publication of this content by Rabobank is not an endorsement of CSC Leasing or a recommendation to do business with CSC Leasing.
Solving Equipment Challenges through Collaboration
As featured in the Foodbytes Q2 2024 Report, Foodbytes Customized Member CSC Leasing has developed a fruitful financing relationship with Foodbytes hub startup Clean Crop Technologies to help bring its Clean Current seed decontamination technology to more growers and processors.
Clean Crop uses food-grade gases and electricity to remove contaminants from seed and food surfaces, boosting yields while reducing food waste from farm to fridge.
Before planting, Clean Crop’s fully electric Clean Current technology provides a scalable seed decontamination treatment free of chemicals and residue. This technology improves plant growth and reduces the carbon footprint of treated crops. Clean Crop’s Clean Current is a fully automated, electric, and dry cold plasma solution that removes seedborne pathogens before they infect plants in farmer fields.
“While Clean Crop’s Clean Current technology can displace incumbent technologies, like hot water and chemical washes, it is being developed in a way that allows for use alongside incumbents, either before or after. This provides minimal friction for customers to adopt the technology into their current production systems.” – Daniel White, CEO & Co-founder, Clean Crop Technologies
Historically, this capital-intensive equipment has caused financial strain on two fronts: the startup’s technology development and its customers’ procurement, which has hindered growth speed and market adoption.
The innovative financing solution provided by CSC Leasing successfully addressed these challenges, by impacting Clean Crop’s pilot R&D units and allowing it to preserve equity for appreciating projects with greater ROI, including IP and sales team expansion.
“As a result, the startup has built a new commercial unit that they are bringing online for their first clients by the end of the year.” – Pem Hutchinson, Senior Director, CSC Leasing
Structuring a Bespoke Equipment Financing Lease: A Peek Behind the Curtain
Based on startup stage, CSC Leasing is able to adapt to characteristics as unique as the growing businesses themselves. CSC anticipates equipment financing needs within progressive ranges:
- Seed and Series A companies tend to require demo, pilot and beta model solutions, typically less than $3M.
- Series B companies are considered to have small to medium scale commercial needs between $3-7M.
- Series C and beyond have full-scale commercial needs from $7-30M.
This equipment financing is distinct compared to other forms of debt, as CSC is comfortable with assets being located at the end-user location. In today’s challenging fundraising environment, this quality provides founders with an alternative to raising incremental equity and facing rejection by traditional banks or venture banks.
Driving Real Impact for Founders & Clients
Clean Crop Technologies CEO and Co-founder Daniel White shared with Foodbytes that partnering with CSC Leasing impacted Clean Crop’s ability to scale by 1) demonstrating to investors that its path to profitability is far less capital intensive and 2) better serving customers’ growing preference for leasing and periodically upgrading equipment versus owning. Expanding this Hardware-as-a-Service offering drives customer adoption and accelerates revenue without drawing down on equity, thus reducing the startup’s dilution.
“This partnership with CSC Leasing is perfectly aligned with the broader trend Clean Crop is seeing in equipment financing towards equipment-as-a-service that customers are asking for, meeting their needs while keeping our balance sheet asset-light.” – Daniel White, CEO & Co-founder, Clean Crop Technologies
Discover a Smarter Way to Fund Equipment and Technology
CSC Leasing finances equipment and technology, so you can save your equity for mission-critical expenses.
- Lease lines from $100K up to $25M
- Non-dilutive financing that is non-recourse and doesn’t require covenants or warrants
- Sale leasebacks with up to 100% reimbursement on equipment you already own
- Full procurement service, including equipment pricing and management — at no extra charge
- End-to-end asset management and a free fully customizable web-based asset management tool
Ready to learn more? Contact Senior Director, Pem Hutchinson at phutchinson@cscleasing.com.
