Accelerator Partnership Program will accelerate 8 startups that are providing climate adaptation and resilience solutions in Latin America and the Caribbean.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK & MEXICO CITY, MEXICO., 13 June 2022 – The Lightsmith Group (“Lightsmith”) and Village Capital announced that eight startups were selected to be part of the ASAP Climate Accelerator focused on spotlighting climate innovation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The open call had a focus on supporting startups and small and medium-sized enterprises that are scaling market-based and contextualized solutions to critical climate adaptation and resilience challenges. More than 100 startups from 12 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean applied to be part of the accelerator, including: Antigua and Barbuda, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, and Jamaica. 52% of the application pool has at least one female founder.

Eight top companies from four different countries composed the final cohort, 80% of them are working outside the major technological hubs in their country. These companies are supporting technologies, products, and services that help increase climate resilience and adaptations of local communities and vulnerable businesses to specific impacts of climate change.

Here are the eight selected startups:

• Capta Hydro (Santiago, Chile) operates an IoT solution for water management systems that allows utility and commercial customers to remotely control water resources and better distribute and ration whenever possible. The solution builds resilience to water stress, increased drought and water scarcity which impacts the availability and price of water. (Water Management)
• EW Tech (Bogota, Colombia) provides natural and sustainable solutions for water treatment and replacement of chemicals used in crops and potable water. The solution builds resilience to the reduced availability, quality, and security of water due to water stress and drought; as well as towards impacts to human health. (Water, Supply Chain)
• Luxelare (Los Mochis, Mexico) helps farmers access climate change insurance, eliminating barriers that otherwise would increase the cost or make it inaccessible altogether. This solution builds the resilience of farmers to mitigate the risks of extreme weather events and weather volatility that affect crop yields, crop prices and farmer incomes, reducing business disruptions and impacts to human livelihoods. (Agriculture, Insurance)
• LYNKS (Valle del Cauca, Colombia) operates a software that gathers water, soil, and climate data to provide automated insights for efficient use of water for irrigation of crops and other industrial processes. This solution builds resilience to water scarcity and the reduction of agricultural productivity due to reduced water availability. (Water, Agriculture)
• PolyNatural (Providencia, Chile) produces a 100% natural emulsion and plant-based fruit coating that reduces food waste by preventing dehydration and maintaining freshness for a longer period of time. This solution builds more resilient food systems by increasing the shelf stability of fresh foods and reducing food wastage. (Agriculture, Supply Chain)
• Adapta Consultoria e Serviços (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) helps public, private and financial institutions to design and implement climate resilient solutions for their business. Their solution enables customers to build resilience to reductions in agricultural productivity due to changing weather and precipitation. (Agriculture, Supply Chain)
• BioEsol (Zapopan, Mexico) provides energy storage solutions for solar energy users looking to become more resilient to outages, as well as more independent from the saturated grid. These solutions build resilience to damages to physical infrastructure and critical services due to hazardous weather and increase the availability of energy for customers to adapt to increased heat stress. (Energy)
• Renar (Tuxtla Gutierrez, Mexico) offers consulting and infrastructure solutions to achieve water sustainability, adaptation, and contribute to the well-being of communities. These solutions build resilience to the reduction in availability, quality and security of water due to water stress and drought. (Infrastructure, Water)

From June 13th to June 17th 2022, the selected cohort will participate in one-week intensive virtual workshops on improving investment-readiness. Each company will have personalized one-on-one working sessions, and the opportunity to work closely with industry experts, investors, and the partners’ ecosystem to develop the network and tools they need to scale their impact. Additionally, on June 17th 2022, the accelerator will hold an online Investor Forum, where participants will pitch their businesses and have the opportunity to connect with potential prospects through breakout rooms. Registration is open to the interested investors and other stakeholders here.

ASAP is a grant-funded initiative led by The Lightsmith Group, in partnership with Village Capital, and with the support of the Global Environment Facility’s Special Climate Change Fund. Additional support is provided by Conservation International and the Inter-American Development Bank.

For more information, reach out to Brian Parham at Lightsmith or Ben Wrobel at Village Capital.

About the Partners 

About The Lightsmith Group
The Lightsmith Group is an investment firm pursuing superior returns by investing in companies that address critical societal needs. Lightsmith invests in growth-stage companies providing technology-enabled business services and solutions in the areas of energy, water, food and agriculture, and climate resilience. Lightsmith won the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance competition in 2016 for its concept for the first climate adaptation and resilience private investment strategy and received the Lab’s formal endorsement in September 2017. For more information on The Lightsmith Group, please see: www.lightsmithgp.com. Lightsmith also oversees the Adaptation SME Accelerator Project (ASAP), an initiative supported by the Global Environment Facility, Conservation International, and the Inter-American Development Bank. For more information about ASAP, please see: www.climateasap.org.

About Village Capital
Village Capital helps entrepreneurs bring big ideas from vision to scale. Our mission is to reinvent the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Our vision is a future where business creates equity and long-term prosperity. Since 2009, we have supported more than 1,000 early-stage entrepreneurs through our investment readiness programs. Our affiliated fund, VilCap Investments, has invested in more than 110 program graduates.

About Conservation International
Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, for biodiversity and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples and local communities to help people and nature thrive together. Go to Conservation.org for more, and follow our work on Conservation News, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and YouTube.”

About The Global Environment Facility
The Global Environment Facility was established 30 years ago to tackle our planet’s most pressing environmental problems. Since then, it has provided more than $21.5 billion in grants and mobilized an additional $117 billion in co-financing for more than 5,000 projects and programs. The GEF is the largest multilateral trust fund focused on enabling developing countries to invest in nature and supports the implementation of major international environmental conventions including on biodiversity, climate change, chemicals, and desertification. It brings together 184 member governments in addition to civil society, international organizations, and private sector partners. For more information please see: www.thegef.org 

About the Special Climate Change Fund
The GEF-managed Special Climate Change Fund has two decades of experience helping vulnerable countries adapt to a changing climate, focusing on bankable, innovative solutions that can be scaled. Since 2001, the SCCF has invested more than $360 million in adaptation measures that have benefited more than 7 million people and increased private sector engagement in climate resilience products and services. Through the SCCF, donor governments have supported the training of more than 200,000 people, expanded access to climate information services, and provided flexible solutions to enable developing countries including small island states to adapt to a fast-changing climate.