The ‘missing middle’ or ‘valley of death’ is a common cause of cleantech startup stall, needing to access debt and equity in the $20,000 to $500,000 range while typically lacking mature internal capacity, skills, financial literacy and access to traditional investment. This presentation will discuss learnings from the development of an Uberis Capital impact investment fund aiming to tackle this challenge. This fund works in partnership with Sevea to provide operational and strategical support to investees to reduce the “early stage” risk and foster sustained growth.

Using real-life examples in the solar and energy efficiency space in South East Asia, this presentation highlighted key factors which make business attractive to impact and venture capital investors.

Within three months of raising its seed round of capital, cleantech startup Nepra encountered the 'cliff of death' following a fire that reduced its facilities to ashes. What followed was a story of resilience and determination by their promoter team and investors as they rebuilt the enterprise from scratch not only for survival but also to significantly accelerate and scale the business.

Renewables will dominate new investments in power for the next 25 years. An estimated $2 trillion is expected to be infused in equity in wind & solar by 2050. This presentation gives an investor's perspective on mapping the opportunities in sustainable energy, current risks in the energy ecosystem, and how clean energy entrepreneurs can navigate the "valleys of death". The presentation also discussed some case studies from successful startups.

The need for cooling grows dramatically with rising prosperity and global temperatures. But what does that have to do with waste? 70% of the world’s waste today is dumped or landfilled without energy recovery. 2 billion tons of waste ‘wasted’ every year by 2030 correspond to 800GW of solar PV capacity (500GW installed globally today). Done right, waste is one of few ‘fuels’ produced everywhere, and perhaps surprisingly, very suitable for the production of sustainable cooling.

In this presentation, Mr. Rai introduced the concept of impact investing, and how it institutionalized microfinance. He also highlighted problems in the waste and agriculture sectors and sample solutions brought about by impact investment. He also emphasized the potential role of Impact Investing in re-imagining renewable energy solutions such as solar and biofuels, and what multilateral institutions such as ADB can do to support this approach.