Wavemaker Impact announces first close of debut fund at $13m

Wavemaker Impact, Southeast Asia’s first climatetech venture builder, has announced the first close of its debut fund to drive decarbonization in the region at scale.

And in the next two years, Wavemaker Impact hopes to launch 8 to 12 new sustainability-focused businesses.

Choo Heng Tong, the Executive Vice President for New Ventures and Innovation, EDB, said delivering sustainability goals is now more pressing as it also presents an opportunity for collaboration across the ecosystem to build and scale climate tech ventures.

Wavemaker Impact’s limited partners include Pavilion Capital, an investment company established in Singapore in 2012; JG Digital Equity Ventures, the VC arm of the Philippines’ JG Summit Holdings; Kajima Ventures; Grantham Foundation, a Boston-based climate investor; and a number of family offices and high net worth investors in Asia and Europe.

The climatetech venture builder also has the support of EDB New Ventures, the venture-building arm of the Singapore Economic Development Board.

“This partnership combines Wavemaker Impact’s strong venture-building expertise and extensive founder networks with EDB’s access to sustainability-focused corporates and insights on climate needs. EDB New Ventures is excited to support WMI in building and scaling new globally-leading climate ventures from Singapore that can tackle the world’s most urgent challenges,” Mr. Choo Heng Tong said.

Earlier, Wavemaker Impact signed strategic partnerships with Enterprise Singapore, which is helping the firm grow its venture-building program, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), which is assisting in stage-appropriate impact measurement.

In October, Wavemaker, in partnership with Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GenZero and Singapore state investor Temasek, also announced a plan to set up a first-of-its-kind agri-tech startup that would bring together climate-tech, agri-food, and venture-building capabilities to accelerate rice decarbonization in Asia.

Quentin Vaquette, one of Wavemaker Impact’s founding partners, said that central to their investment thesis is the idea that successful climatetech companies must focus on value creation for their customers, not just emissions reduction.

Vaguette said all of their companies have the potential to reach US$100 million in high-margin recurring revenue and abate 100 million tons of CO2e emissions per year.

Since its launch in October 2021, Wavemaker Impact has grown its presence in 3 key markets in Southeast Asia (Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam) and launched 4 new companies through its venture-building methodology.

It plans to launch 8 to 12 more new companies in the next 2 years, funding these from the launch, Series A and later on Series B. The venture builder is enabling business models in land use and deforestation, agriculture, mobility, industry, buildings, and energy.