Jofie Yordan · · 1 min readEx-Grab digibank head to help fight deforestation with new venture
Arkadiah co-founder and CEO Reuben Lai / Photo credit: Grab
Reuben Lai, former executive director and head of regional strategy at Grab and Singtel’s digibank GXS, has co-founded a new startup called Arkadiah to help fight deforestation.
In a LinkedIn post, Lai explained that Arkadiah is a nature tech company that “revives degraded lands through reforestation and agroforestry.” The Singapore-based firm uses AI to determine suitable areas for its work as well as to track the impact and progress of these projects.
Lai mentioned that the nature tech sector is estimated to represent a US$20 billion to US$30 billion opportunity in the future. To capitalize on this, the company aims to provide solutions in Southeast Asia, which loses at least 1.2% of its forests each year – one of the highest deforestation rates in the world.
“We aim to generate the highest quality carbon removal and biodiversity credits in the region and help contribute to food security,” Lai, who also serves as Arkadiah’s CEO, wrote in the post.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Lai has been working on Arkadiah since July of last year. He left Grab in November 2022 after a stint of around seven years with the company.
See also: Southeast Asian investors bullish on electric bikes, clean energy in 2024
Editing by Miguel Cordon and Lorenzo Kyle Subido
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