Private capital is entering the climate x health space more actively, driven by the massive growth in Asian venture capital markets. Between 2011 and 2022, VC assets under management in Asia surged 21 times, reaching US$315 billion.
Per the ‘Unlocking Capital For Climate x Health: The Investment Landscape in Asia’ report, prepared by AVPN and Prudence Foundation, in partnership with Catalyst Management Services, this overall growth has benefited the climate technology sector, which now accounts for approximately 10 per cent of global VC and private equity flows, up from just 3 per cent in 2011.
Also Read: Asia’s climate-health crisis deepens amid massive funding gaps
While climate x health deals remain small, typically under US$5 million, the volume of early-stage rounds is steadily increasing.
The rise of specialised climate x health sleeves
Crucially, specialised investors define the investment pace by incorporating climate-health co-benefits into their mandates.
- Synapses: This VC fund has backed 30 startups focusing on low-carbon health facilities, vector control, and heat analytics. Their typical ticket size is US$500,000 to US$2 million.
- Decarbonisation Partners (Temasek and BlackRock): This joint venture has allocated up to US$100 million for technologies that protect health while cutting emissions.
- Temasek, GIC, and Vertex Ventures: Large institutional players in Singapore are actively backing deep-tech and health-aligned ventures that blend systemic impact with commercial returns. For instance, GIC and Vertex were involved in a US$8 million revenue-based loan for remote heat-exposure monitoring in 2023.
Overcoming investment friction
Despite this growing appetite, VCs identify two key friction points:
- The missing-middle ticket gap: The lack of funding between grants and a Series A round.
- Lack of standard metrics: The difficulty in standardising metrics that consistently prove health outcomes.
Blended structures, combining concessional loans with venture equity, are emerging as a practical fix, often involving sovereign-wealth partners. Furthermore, flexible instruments like venture debt, private credit, and outcome-based models bridge early innovation and scalable maturity.
Also Read: Billions lost to heat: Urgent investment needed to cool Asia’s overheating economies
Ultimately, scaling climate x health solutions requires modular, multi-phase capital stacks that successfully integrate concessional funds, grants, and commercial investment.
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