News: CWE Carnegie Wave Energy signs debt financing agreement, page-9

The figure of $3.69 million wouldn't just be a figure that was arbitrarily plucked out of the air. Nor would it have been the limit of what they could raise. I would think it is much more likely that it is the exact amount needed to fill the shortfall between the amount that ARENA was providing and the cash on hand set aside for the project.

Demonstrating that they were able to raise finance through a Debt Financing Agreement increases their options.

In the early days, all of their funding was either by government handouts or cash raising from shareholders. There are limits to how far either of those two options could be exploited.