This family office has launched a startup accelerator with a mission to protect, restore biodiversity in SEA

Protecting and restoring biodiversity is the greatest challenge of our lifetimes. And it represents an incredible opportunity globally, including in Southeast Asia.

However, biodiversity receives little attention or funding.

A Singapore-based family office is on a mission to protect and restore biodiversity, starting with Southeast Asia. It has launched a biodiversity accelerator to support startups tackling the crisis. And the service is pro bono.

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“Society has made big strides towards a ‘net-zero’ mindset, but we would love to see us collectively take one step further towards a nature-positive one,” said Kelvin Chiu, Founder and Principal at Silverstrand Capital. Biodiversity is a more holistic indicator of well-functioning ecosystems, whereas using carbon as a particular sustainability metric may not reflect nature’s inherent and inspiring complexity.”

The Biodiversity Accelerator+, launched late last month, is a three-month online programme. It consists of extensive group sessions and discussions with its core coaches, tailored one-on-one coaching, and fireside chats with entrepreneurs and industry experts — all offered for no fee or equity.

The accelerator aims to support businesses with market-based solutions in conservation and restoration, or what it calls “biodiversity-positive” companies.

They are:

• Regenerative agriculture/aquaculture opportunities across the value chain: Examples include companies selling sustainable agri-inputs (biodiverse seeds, seaweed-based bio fertilisers) or value-added products (food, textiles, cosmetics, medicine) from unconventional crops
• Ecosystem restoration technologies for forests, mangroves, and coral reefs: Examples include seed planting drones and reef tiles (software management systems for managing the cash flows of forest restoration against the success of replanting efforts)
• Measurement technologies for biodiversity or ecosystem health: Environmental DNA, acoustic- or hyperspectral-based IoT sensors, or remote sensing algorithms.
• Sustainable travel-related companies (eco-lodge operators or travel booking platforms)
• Enforcement technologies for conservation areas (technologies that can detect illegal logging or forest fires in real-time).

The Biodiversity Accelerator+ targets eight companies for the first cohort. Preference will be given to companies based/with operations in Southeast Asia or interested in expanding to the region. “Southeast Asia is a biocultural hotspot with an enormous variety of beautiful, natural habitats. I feel it is our duty and responsibility to protect what is left and restore what was once there,” he said.

At the end of the programme, participants can unlock investments of up to US$250,000 each and access a vast network of impact investors.

“We want to build the stack of ‘biodiversity-positive’ investible opportunities for ourselves and other investors. We have met with many passionate and talented entrepreneurs who we feel could benefit from a holistic and comprehensive programme covering their businesses’ financial, social, and environmental aspects. We want to help these founders upskill and help their early-stage companies become more investment-ready,” he elaborated.

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The partners of Biodiversity Accelerator+ are Temasek Foundation, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), Mandai Nature, UBS Optimus Foundation, Conservation International Ventures, Wavemaker Impact, REAPRA, NUS Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions, the Meloy Fund, Be The Earth Foundation, Systemiq, Beanstalk, Cell VC, Shook Lin & Bok, and Kindrik Partners.

These partners will help the accelerator with shortlisting and selecting the companies, leading group sessions, and being mentors to the founders of companies. They would potentially be co-investing with Silverstrand at the end.

The selection of finalists will be conducted jointly by the Silverstrand investment committee and the external experts on its shortlisting committee, including Kavita Prakash-Mani, CEO of Mandai Nature, and Peter Kennedy, Partner at the Meloy Fund.

Silverstrand has a network of experienced coaches and speakers from different backgrounds to help the startups with traditional accelerator aspects (fundraising, financial modelling and branding) and impact aspects (understanding the science of biodiversity and how to work with local communities).

“We want our participating companies to use the knowledge gained to guide better their business and financial planning and their approach to the ecosystems and communities in which they operate. Ultimately, we want our companies to achieve a ‘triple bottom line’ of financial, social and environmental returns,” Chiu remarked.

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