Ask the Investor is an interactive series we run at CLIMAFIX that derives key insights from innovative climate investors on many different aspects of their investment journey. (See all posts at Ask the Investor)
This series is done as part of the CLIMAFIX Summit 2023, India’s largest climate startup summit, organized by CLIMAFIX & Energy Consortium – IIT Madras.
In this post, we have Ajay Anand from Anicut Capital sharing his perspectives.
CLIMAFIX thanks Ajay Anand for his valuable inputs.
1. Which are the specific climate tech domains that are of interest to you and your firm?
Anicut Seed Fund has a diversified approach in the Climate Tech, as a fund we are exploring products that have sustainable approach and are working towards to minimize the carbon footprint. Some use tech to help provide Clean air , Water & waste management, battery innovation and recycling, B2B SAAS based models in areas of Cleantech like ESG and energy efficiency to name a few.
2. According to you which are the underserved climate tech sectors where more investments are needed but where investing currently is a challenge?
From a VC standpoint, unfortunately, climate Tech as a sector has been underserved historically. The main impediments were capex-oriented nature of these businesses and the very few late-stage investors (typically large global family offices, sovereign funds, or social funds) in this segment. But now, this sector is becoming mainstream. We have seen many mainstream VC’s building and executing on their thesis very well. Hence, we believe that a lot more investment will come in the Climate Tech space from early to growth stage. The Only segment in Climate Tech which is on its way to achieve maturity is the EV space. There are countless other large use cases that require innovation and disruption which are at their nascent stage.
3. What are the key challenges that you see in the Indian climate investment domain?
Key challenge in Indian context for Climate Tech Startup has always been the lack of VC funds focusing in this area. There are lot of hardware, deeptech and software in India, but the lack the Funds required to take them to the next level of business. This sector has now been seen as something which addresses a large global problem. Hence, things are bound to look brighter for the Indian clean tech ecosystem.
4. What are some of the climate tech innovations (Indian or global) that caught your attention?
We have seen lot of innovation in Climate Tech, talking about few of them which we invested
- Uravu (making water from the Air)
- Clairco (Providing Clean Air and energy efficiency solutionsas Product as a service)
- Neemans (Sustainable and comfortable footwear)
- Eplane (making a VTOL based flying taxifor urban mobility)
- Ellipsol (Product to enhance productivity of Solar Panels)
5. If you had a magic wand that can give you just one wish, what would your wish be?
To have a cleaner and better society for future generations. If we look back, in the quest for relentless progress and development, we have done quite a lot of damage to the earth for our future generation. We wish that people understand this and move towards sustainable development which ensures progress for all (people and nature).
