Corporations can be a great asset to the climate tech startup community, especially when it comes to building a sustainable business. They can help startups grow and prosper by providing them with the kind of support that they need, from funding to networking.

However, in order to have a successful business partnership between climate tech startups and corporates, there have to be adjustments from both sides.

“The first draft is not going to be perfect, but it’s going to be beautiful. We embrace the journey together as we are all learning the space of sustainability,” says Liyana Sulaiman, Chief Product & Technology Officer / Co-Founder, Pollen, in a panel discussion on the second day of Echelon Asia Summit 2023.

“Then, coupled with the culture of experimentation, I think the transparency is needed on both sides,” she continues.

Noting the cultural difference between climate tech startups and corporates, Gavin Chua, Head of Stakeholder Engagement, APAC, Meta, stressed the importance of building an understanding.

“Startups tend to be nimble and agile, but corporates are not always able to do that, so there has to be a bridging point,” he said. “Especially when corporations do not have the organisational structure to do that.”

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At the same panel discussion, Nicole Mao, Co-Founder & CEO at Tiger China Energy,  gave an example of corporations and climate tech startups’ collaboration.

“For example, if you have a petrol station or a convenience store chain, you can join us as a partner with 70 per cent of the income going to you. You just have to provide a physical place for us,” she explains.

Pushing startups to be environmentally responsible

Still related to the topic of environmental sustainability, in a fireside chat at the same event, Susli Lie, Partner at Monk’s Hill Ventures, explains the venture capital firm’s ESG approach.

While ESG is not a part of the firm’s investment thesis as a sector-agnostic, generalist fund, it has included ESG as another layer of consideration on top of its existing investment vetting process.

“When we are getting more serious about the potential of investment, we will typically run an internal process just to make sure that we have a preliminary assessment on the ESG-related risks and opportunities that we have to watch out for,” Lie explained.

“This is typically not a huge issue because most companies that we invest in are software companies. Once we are actively in conversation with them and decide to give them a term sheet, I will start to have a direct conversation about what they are doing about ESG.”

Also Read: The key to tackling climate change: Electrify shipping

While Lie acknowledged that ESG in investment is still not a popular discourse in Southeast Asia, Monk’s Hill Ventures want to be at the forefront of this movement.

“Some people questioned the practicality of requiring early stage startups to have anything related to ESG. Like, is that even a fair demand? So, there is a fair level of scepticism still. This is true across the founders’ community and the investor community,” Lie says.

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