By focusing on early-stage innovation and measurable impact, Temasek Trust’s Catalytic Capital for Climate & Health (C3H) is positioning itself as one of Asia’s most important champions of climate and health tech startups. Still in its infancy, the platform has already backed three pioneering ventures — Notpla, Dozee, and Equatic — and is actively scouting new technologies across climate, health, and the rapidly expanding climate–health nexus.

At the centre of this effort is Ryan Tan, founding Head of C3H and Co-Head of Strategy and Development at Temasek Trust. Tan’s mandate is simple yet ambitious: deploy catalytic capital that bridges the “valley of death” for early-stage innovators, helping them scale commercially while delivering measurable climate and health impacts.

Founders in these two areas frequently encounter a familiar hurdle: promising science, but a long road to demonstrating commercial and environmental viability. C3H targets precisely this gap.

“We take a dual-lens approach to evaluation – looking at both commercial viability and measurable impact,” Tan explains in an email interview with e27.

Unlike conventional investors, C3H is comfortable entering at an earlier stage and taking a long view on development. This is crucial in climate technology, where extended pilots are often required to validate both the underlying innovation and its eventual real-world impact.

By providing patient, early capital, C3H gives startups the runway to develop sustainable and scalable models — the key to crossing the notorious “valley of death.”

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One of the central roles of catalytic capital is to prepare early-stage ventures for commercial capital. Tan describes a two-pronged approach.

First, C3H conducts rigorous evaluations of both business and impact models, effectively absorbing early-stage risk. This de-risking signals confidence to later-stage investors, who are assessing whether a new technology can reach scale.

Second, C3H actively supports portfolio companies through its networks. “We frequently connect the startups we support to various organisations across the larger ecosystem for pilots and broker introductions for potential follow-on funding,” Tan says. Startups such as Notpla, Dozee and Equatic have already benefited from this hands-on facilitation.

For startups in climate and health navigating opaque markets and complex implementation pathways, this combination of validation and connectivity can be transformative.

Asia needs a different catalytic capital model

Tan emphasises that Asia cannot simply replicate Western models of climate innovation.

“Asia is highly diverse, with differing regulations, cultures and commercial environments. This creates information gaps and uneven implementation pathways. There’s no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to scaling here,” he notes.

Impact measurement, as a core pillar of C3H’s thesis, must also be contextualised to the region’s regulatory and environmental variations. As such, catalytic capital in Asia must go beyond financial support. Strong partnerships are essential, particularly when it comes to assisting with pilots, market entry strategies, and long-term scaling.

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As the climate crisis intensifies, technologies that address the intersection of climate and health are becoming increasingly urgent. Tan sees robust momentum in climate adaptation, a complement to long-term mitigation strategies.

C3H is especially excited about three areas:

1. Heat-stress monitoring for workers in high-risk industries, enabling earlier interventions that protect health and productivity.
2. Next-generation cooling technologies that reduce energy use while remaining climate-safe.
3. Long Duration Energy Storage (LDES) innovations, including novel electrochemical solutions that enable greater renewable integration and cross-border energy collaboration.

Each of these areas promises not only commercial potential but also substantial, quantifiable impact for communities most vulnerable to climate risks.

Looking ahead, Tan outlines three strategic thrusts for C3H in 2026.

First, the organisation aims to lead or participate in high-potential investments, as it did with Equatic. Second, it plans to selectively invest as a limited partner in early-stage funds where general partners show strong differentiation and alignment with C3H’s impact mission. This expands networks and deepens sector insights.

Finally, C3H intends to strengthen ecosystem partnerships — among startups, funds, academia, and corporates — to build a robust pipeline and support its portfolio companies in scaling both commercial and impact outcomes.

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Image Credit: Chris LeBoutillier on Unsplash

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