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Shadine Taufik · · 4 min readSG’s first climate tech investor on moonshots, AI, and lessons learned
Climate tech startups saw a funding boom in 2022, receiving contributions from governments and private investors even amid the recessionary headwinds.
While funding for the sector globally dipped 40% for the first half of 2023, investors still seem interested. Take it from Mike Lim, partner at Singapore-based climate tech and decarbonization-focused VC firm Trirec, who says that investing in the space hasn’t really died down as he sees a lot of their peers still deploying money into it.
“I still think there’s very good interest in general for the climate tech space as opposed to the general tech investing space,” he tells Tech in Asia.
(From left) Trirec partners Lawrence Wu, Melvyn Yeo, and Mike Lim / Photo credit: Trirec
The firm is raising two climate tech funds amid this downturn. After launching its first investment vehicle in 2015 and its second in 2019, Trirec is looking to raise up to US$200 million for its third flagship fund. Lim says that the firm has “officially gone to market” to raise the fund.
Targeting a first close by the first quarter of 2024, Trirec looks to invest in 15 to 18 companies in the pre-series A to series A stage with an average ticket size of US$5 million.
In its second project this year, the firm is launching a collaborative fund with Thai energy company Innopower. Unlike Trirec’s other funds, the Energy Ignition Venture fund will focus on late-stage companies.
It is looking to raise up to US$250 million with ticket sizes going up to US$10 million. Though it has not officially gone to market yet, Trirec aims to close the fund’s first tranche by the first half of next year.
So far, Trirec has invested in 14 companies. Half of its portfolio is based in the US, while the other half is scattered across Asia and Europe.
“Technology takes time to mature, businesses take time to mature. As much as we want net zero by tomorrow, that’s just not going to happen.”
Launched in 2015, when not much was known about the climate tech space, Lim says Trirec has had a first-mover advantage as it understands the whole landscape and value chain.
“A lot of peers in the US and Europe know about us, and we’ve been doing deals together so that relationship also provides us with a little bit of an advantage when it comes to deal sourcing,” he shares.
A sum of its parts
Active since: 2015
Partners: Melvyn Yeo, Lawrence Wu, Mike Lim
New fund size: Up to US$200 million for flagship fund, up to US$250 million for collaborative fund
Invests in: Climate tech
Select portfolio firms: EDP Renewables APAC, Packet Greens, Oyika, Green Li-ion
Headquarters: Singapore
Areas covered: Global
No moonshot investments 🌚💸
The special sauce that separates Trirec from many other climate tech VCs is its choice of “transitory” investments.
Saving the envAIronment? 🦾🌳
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Trirec is raising up to US$450 million across two funds, with one focusing on early-stage investments and the other on late-stage firms.
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