We are delighted to announce our debut Climate Tech and ESG Summit track as part of the Asia PE-VC Summit 2023 on Sept 5-6 in Singapore.
The focus tracks will deep-dive into top ESG and climate tech investing trends and data; the balancing of impact investments with returns; the pressing need to fast-track the net-zero journey and the importance of due diligence to measure outcomes.
The tracks will feature leaders from impact investment firms, businesses in the social and environmental space, mainstream funds and enterprises adopting ESG metrics.
Building a regional unicorn with a farmer-first approach
- Fireside chat with Dhianendra Laksmana, CFO, eFishery
- In conversation with Tabita Diela, Correspondent, Indonesia, DealStreetAsia
Founded in 2013 in the West Java city of Bandung, eFishery offers an Internet of Things-based digital auto feeder to enhance accountability, efficiency, and convenience in the fish-farming business. eFishery became SE Asia’s only unicorn so far in 2023 after its Series D round, emerging as an outlier amid the ongoing liquidity crunch and a slowdown in dealmaking. What next for eFishery after achieving the unicorn tag? The fundraising journey and the experience of having a diverse cap table? How did eFishery become the harbinger of change for Indonesia’s vast aquaculture ecosystem?
What is driving BII’s plans to invest $1.6b in climate finance in South & SE Asia?
- Fireside chat with Srini Nagarajan, Managing Director and Head of Asia, British International Investment
The UK’s development finance institution British International Investment (BII), formerly CDC, has been looking at “transformative” climate technology projects in South and Southeast Asia. BII has committed to invest up to $1 billion in climate finance projects in India over a five-year period. In SE Asia, it will look at investing over $600 million in a five-year span across Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines, in both direct investments and funds. BII’s main focus remains to enable economies to reach the net-zero transition.
Breakthrough climate innovation: The future that can be
- Melvyn Yeo, Founder & Managing Partner, TRIREC
- Jianrong Liu, Director, Decarbonization Partners
- Milena Nikolova, Partner, Aera VC (Moderator)
The climate crisis is here and all stakeholders – from policymakers to entrepreneurs and investors – feel the pressing need to work on solutions to fast-track the decarbonisation journey. Deep tech solutions and breakthrough innovations have the potential to cut gestation gaps and time to market for products and solutions in the fight against climate change. How can private capital investors accelerate the net-zero journey? Which areas in the climate tech space will spur innovations and therefore need more capital? Apart from capital, what value-addition strategies can investors bring to the table?
EV evolution in SEA: How to supercharge adoption and growth?
Southeast Asia represents the next key market in Asia where the electric vehicle [EV] segment is poised to grow. Regulators in the region’s major markets such as Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, have introduced various incentives to attract investments and drive adoption among consumers.While market growth in Southeast Asia has been relatively slow compared to other regions like China, Europe, and North America, the emergence of EV startups, coupled with investment commitments from local and global investors, is expected to create more demand in the market and help speed up the development of EV infrastructure and ecosystem.
Seizing opportunities in SE Asia’s burgeoning climate tech sector
- Alina Truhina, CEO and Founding Partner, The Radical Fund
- Marie Cheong, Founding Partner, Wavemaker Impact
- Lauren Blasco, Principal – Head of ESG, AC Ventures (ACV)
- Andi Haswidi, Head of Data & Research, DealStreetAsia (Moderator)
Private funding for climate technology companies in Southeast Asia breached the significant $1-billion mark in funding last year, indicating the rising investor interest and entrepreneurial activity in the sector. The contribution of climate tech investments to overall private capital funding in the region is also improving. In terms of equity funding, climate tech accounted for 7.8% of overall venture funding in the region in 2022, significantly higher than 2.6% in 2021, according to our proprietary report on The State of Climate Tech in SE Asia 2022. This panel will explore fast-growing niches and challenges to building scalable climate tech businesses.
How can private equity take the lead in sustainability?
- Tang Zongzhong, Head of Sustainability, BPEA EQT
- Ivo Philipps, Founding Partner and Chief Operating Officer, Affirma Capital
While ESG and sustainability principles continue to gain currency among corporations and investors, it needs to be an integral and core part of deal-making conversations. Several companies may be at different stages of the ESG journey and institutional investors can play a greater role in driving scalability and accountability. Since private equity investors typically come at a later stage of the deal-making lifecycle, the companies they support are already mature and may nurture public market aspirations, thereby necessitating the need for proper ESG metrics and frameworks. How do private equity players navigate deployment and due diligence strategies keeping the impact focus? How can PE build value creation by adopting ESG principles?