Eclipse has a new plan

Silicon Valley's Eclipse Ventures today launched a new entrepreneur-in-residence program, and one of its first companies is a recycled plastics marketplace called Circular Exchange.

What's happening: Eclipse Venture Equity, as the new group is called, will source startup ideas and match them with founders within the firm's network.

• "We pair them with a half-built business that's just waiting for the right person," Eclipse partner Aidan Madigan-Curtis tells Axios.
• In return, Eclipse will lead the company's seed round and take a board seat.
• Unlike many other accelerators, Eclipse's seed checks are built to last longer than a few months, Madigan-Curtis says.

Zoom in: Circular Exchange is led by Ian Arthurs, former COO of Medium and TaskRabbit, and raised just over $5 million in seed funding led by Eclipse.

• The company has been operating in a private beta with many Eclipse LPs as advisors and customers, Arthurs says.

💭 Our thought bubble: Investors and founders are going to have to get creative to survive the new equity financing reality.

• Look for more creative early-stage solutions to crop up as investors deploy existing funds while attempting to de-risk a new generation of climate startups.