However, with venture building, we provide a system with shared resources and expertise. This significantly reduces the risks and shortens the time it takes to launch a successful business.
Research shows that startups emerging from venture studios tend to have a higher success rate. They also tend to reach the market faster and often raise their next round of funding more quickly compared to conventional startups.
This is largely due to the rigorous process and support they receive throughout the venture-building journey.
For our founders, it’s important to note that climate tech is still relatively new and can be daunting to navigate. We don’t require them to come to us with a fully formed idea, solution, or product right from the start. Instead, we help them explore opportunities in climate tech, brainstorm ideas, and test them out.
One of the most essential traits we look for in a founder is curiosity. Along with passion for making an impact, curiosity drives them to embrace the challenging journey ahead.
It requires founders to let go of previous assumptions and be open to learning something new. This curiosity helps them navigate the complexities of the process while challenging their own hypotheses.
Another critical aspect of success is focusing more on customers and the problems they face, rather than solely on a specific solution. The most successful startups are those that solve significant and relevant customer problems.
It’s not enough to just create a product that addresses environmental issues; we ensure that it’s something that fulfills real, tangible needs for customers in the market. This approach makes the impact sustainable and the solution effective.
Yes, so we operate around five key pillars, which we refer to as our carbon map. This carbon map is essentially a framework of opportunity areas we’ve identified within the climate sector, specifically in Southeast Asia. These pillars are:
Land use and carbon sinks
Sustainable agriculture and food
Mobility and transport
Industrial processes
Electricity for buildings
Under these five areas, there are various sub-opportunities. Let’s take one example we discussed previously: Octayne. In Southeast Asia, the adoption of renewable energy is still significantly lower compared to other parts of the world.
For instance, New Zealand is almost 100% powered by renewable energy, mainly from wind and solar. In contrast, Southeast Asia as a whole is still under 10%.
But there’s a huge opportunity here. Many coal power plants in countries like Indonesia are being phased out by the government over the next 10 to 20 years. One current initiative is a co-firing program where these coal plants must switch 50% of their fuel source from coal to biomass.
PLN, Indonesia’s largest state-owned electricity company, needs millions of tons of biomass each year to meet this goal. The problem is that, while there’s plenty of agricultural waste like rice husk available, the supply chain is disorganized, fragmented, and undervalued. Octayne saw this as a huge opportunity to organize the value chain for agricultural waste and transform it into a valuable resource, replacing coal in power plants.
This example fits both within our sustainable agriculture pillar- because it reduces agricultural waste – and our industrial processes pillar, by replacing coal with a more sustainable alternative.
Absolutely – climate science is universal, and many technologies applied in one country can be adapted for others.
Our startups have the opportunity to cross pollinate and learn from each other in terms of deploying their climate technologies. For example, we have several startups in the agriculture space which can translate to shared learnings and even integrating strategies.
However, the way they need to be implemented will not be a simple copy and paste. The challenges and market dynamics differ, so localization becomes essential, you have to tailor your approach based on the specific context of each region.
In short, while we can learn from and replicate successful models from other regions, we need to remain very focused on understanding and addressing the local issues unique to Southeast Asia. That’s the key to making these climate solutions work effectively in this part of the world.
Last year, we closed our first fund at WaveMaker Impact, raising $60 million. Our focus is on investing in technologies that are ready to be deployed – solutions that are already making a difference but need the right push to scale.
While deep tech, like hydrogen energy, holds incredible potential, it’s still a long way from being commercially viable. For this first fund, we’ve chosen to concentrate on what’s actionable now.
The challenge isn’t the lack of technology, but rather understanding the barriers to its adoption, especially here in Southeast Asia.
We’re asking: What’s holding us back? What’s the friction that’s preventing these innovations from taking root?
Referring back to the five key pillars within our carbon map, there’s so many opportunities that we foresee. There are a lot of researches and publications related to climate tech released every year.
So, as we continue on this journey, one thing is clear: technology isn’t our limitation. If anything, there are more and more innovations emerging, validated through research and development.
Not only are there new methods for reducing emissions, but existing technologies like solar panels are becoming more efficient every year. The same goes for electric vehicles and advancements in agriculture. With deeper understanding, we’re finding better ways to implement these solutions. Not only that, with better awareness, more talent is being drawn into this space.
As we all know, Southeast Asia has a solid tech ecosystem – there are around ~4,000 startups in the region, with half of them based in Indonesia. Indonesia alone now boasts about 20 unicorns.
This growing ecosystem creates a tremendous opportunity for us to connect with experienced founders who’ve built successful startups. Many of them now have a passion for impact, and if they want to transition into climate tech, we’re here to guide them through that journey. For us, it’s not just about technology; it’s about empowering those with the drive to make a difference in the world.
We’re always on the lookout for passionate founders – people ready to build companies that can truly make a difference. Our founder recruitment happens year-round, whether it’s through online platforms like LinkedIn, where we post opportunities, or through offline events like networking meetups and ecosystem gatherings in key markets. These events give us the chance to meet incredible individuals face-to-face and build real connections.
Thanks to these efforts, we’ve received a strong number of applications, and each year we’re now helping launch about eight startups. As we continue to improve our approach, scale up, and expand into new regions, we’re excited to see that number grow even higher.
As I mentioned, curiosity is such an essential ingredient in the founders we work with. It’s perfectly okay for founders to come in with a unique insight or a strong interest they’re passionate about. But we also guide them through an exercise we call the ‘founder Ikigai,’ where we really dig into their deeper reason for doing this. It’s about combining what they love and are best at with the opportunities we see in the market.
I think this ties back to one of our core beliefs at WaveMaker Impact: opportunity equals value minus perception. It’s easy to think that just because a climate solution is successful in places like America or Europe, we can simply bring it over and expect the same results here. But in my experience, it doesn’t work that way. You really need to dive deep into understanding what the customer wants, how they behave, what barriers they face, and what incentives will actually motivate them to switch to climate solutions.
That’s why curiosity is so important. You have to stay open to the process and be willing to ask the hard questions.
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