Climate Tech in Asia Shows Promise for VCs After Trailing U.S

(Bloomberg) -- Asia, home to two-thirds of the world’s people, offers growth potential for venture capital investors in climate technology after lagging behind the U.S. and Europe, according to Jungle Ventures.

About $50 billion of venture capital went into climate technology startups in the U.S. over the last five years, while Asia attracted not even one-tenth of that amount, Jungle Ventures Founding Partner Amit Anand told Bloomberg Television. 

“We are building data models to decide what should influence our investments in this direction,” Anand said at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore on Friday. “You’re going to see a lot more happening from VCs in this space in Asia.” 

Environmental, social and corporate governance investing has morphed from a niche theory to a $35 trillion market, with investors of all stripes jumping on the bandwagon amid pressure from clients, shareholders and regulators to take climate change and social justice into account.

Jungle Ventures has been a relatively early mover in ESG partly because its backers include the World Bank’s International Finance Corp. and German development finance institution DEG. The firm has invested in Vietnamese electric motorbike startup Dat Bike, and expects large room for growth in the electric vehicle sector, Anand said. 

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