The circular economy aims to reduce overconsumption, restore and regenerate ecosystems and design-out waste. Waste management has historically been financed by the public sector and, in particular, by municipal governments. New financial instruments and investments are needed to support the growth of the circular business models. In order to develop circular business models, it is important to know their financing possibilities and the financial products and services, including public equity funds, bonds, private market funds and banking. Investments in circular economy and new business models, especially in developing countries, are still considered to be high risk compared to ongoing and growing finance experiments in industrialized economies. Private sector capital is urgently needed as current levels of development financing are not sufficient. A number of de-risking instruments could be applied to finance circular economy projects and provide access to funds for SMEs in developing countries. The author identified four instruments such as loan guarantee schemes, political risk insurance, public equity co-investments and public–private blended finance as potential instruments for de-risking and scaling up investments for circular solutions.