CIRN Session #9 to Focus on Navigating the Structural Barriers to Raising Capital

Join CIRN Session #9 on 27 May, from 11:00-12:00, which will focus on navigating the structural barriers to raising capital as an early-stage circular venture.
04/05/2026

CIRN continues with the series of sessions designed as networking opportunities for European circular businesses, experts, and investors in an engaging, dynamic format. Organised by the Circular Investment Readiness Network initiative, the 9th CIRN session will take place online on 27 May from 11:00-12:00 CET.

Raising capital is challenging enough for any early-stage venture, but circular businesses face a distinct set of structural disadvantages that make it particularly so. Financial systems, investment cultures, and assessment methodologies remain largely geared towards linear, asset-light, and fast-scaling models, while often misaligned with the realities of circular business models, which rely on material innovation, ecosystem coordination, and longer time horizons.

This session unpacks these structural barriers and reframes them from the perspective of founders to ask what is actually happening when circular ventures struggle to raise capital, and how can they be navigated in practice? Drawing on the upcoming Step-by- step Investment Readiness Guide, it aims to highlight how founders can align with investor expectations without compromising the integrity or prospects of their business model. The session will detail how novel funding strategies, financial modelling, ecosystem positioning, and more effective preparation with due diligence processes can help to navigate the challenge faced by circular businesses.

Interested in joining? Register here.

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