Unlocking Impact Funding Opportunities – April 2023 edition.
If you’re a social impact business owner, you know that funding is critical to achieving your goals. The good news is that there are always funding opportunities available if you know where to look. Here’s a rundown of some of the top funding opportunities available for social impact businesses this month.
RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE GOALS
The Liveability Challenge
The global population is set to hit 8 billion this year. With rapid urbanisation gripping Asia, the decarbonisation of our economies and cities has become more urgent than ever.
With five editions completed, The Liveability Challenge will be back in 2023 with a sixth edition.
This year, the prize money are doubled to S$2 million, featuring two tracks:
1. Climate Change
We are looking for disruptive innovations that can decarbonise energy generation and industries, as well as capture and utilise carbon to create scalable products for global markets. We also want solutions that address ocean challenges including innovative models that restore and regenerate coastal and marine ecosystems in Southeast Asia.
2. Food & Nutrition
We are looking for disruptive innovations that can establish a circular urban agriculture or aquaculture system, or alternative protein system. We are seeking innovative and breakthrough technological solutions to maximise production efficiency and minimise resource requirements.
Find out more about our challenge statement here.
The Liveability Challenge will award a grand prize of up to S$1million for the winner in each track. Other funding prizes include investments of $100,000 each from our strategic partners: impact investment firm PlanetRise, impact-focused family office Rumah Group, and venture capital funds Quest Ventures, TRIREC and PeakBridge.
Make your submissions before 10 April 2023 (Deadline extended)
Hello CleanTech Startup Challenge
Vestbee, together with industry partners and leading investors, has recently launched Hello CleanTech. The program aims to support startups that develop impactful tech solutions, accelerate the cleantech sector and make a real impact on the world’s energy industry. Startups selected to join the program will benefit from a range of invaluable opportunities, including commercial collaboration with industry leaders, professional business, technology, and fundraising support from experienced market experts, and access to the leading VC funds.
The program partners include EIT InnoEnergy and leading energy corporations (Tauron Polska Energia, Ciech) as well as early-stage investors (Neste Corporation, E44, Tangent Line, Doral Group Renewable Energy Resources) who are willing to establish cooperation with the authors of the most interesting solutions that are in line with the trends in the company’s policy.
Which startups can apply?
Hello CleanTech is dedicated to supporting emerging impact companies developing environment-friendly solutions. The applications are open for all innovative companies working in the following green tech verticals: digital solutions; bioenergy, renewable fuels and biochemical feedstocks for heat, energy-intensive sectors and hard-to-abate transport; solutions for green hydrogen and power-to-X concepts; decarbonization of the food value chain; and recycling for the circular economy.
WE EMPOWER UN SDG CHALLENGE 2023
Calling all women entrepreneurs! The WE Empower UN SDG Challenge is a global challenge for women entrepreneurs powering UN Sustainable Development Goals.
This program aims to highlight the significant contribution of women social entrepreneurs and business leaders in addressing the world’s greatest challenges and achieving the SDGs. Join the program to elevate your work and showcase your potential for making a meaningful impact on the world. By recognizing the innovative work of the Awardees and offering them capacity-building training sessions, as well as access to an unparalleled global network, this opportunity helps advance their enterprises.
Application deadline: April 16, 2023
Elemental Excelerator For Climate Tech
Are you an entrepreneur looking to scale a transformative climate technology?
Are you invested in scaling a solution that brings both climate and social impact?
The Elemental Excelerator is offering funding and in-depth support for promising climate tech startups around the world with social impact potential. The priority application deadline is April 14 and applications will be accepted through May 31, 2023.
Program Fit
At a minimum, we require your company to:
- Be a startup addressing climate change and related issues
- Be a for-profit, stand-alone venture
- Have at least two full-time employees
- Have an operating prototype
- Have an initial pilot deployment in progress or completed
Your company will get the most out of Elemental if you:
- Are Pre-Seed – Series C+ stage
- Have demonstrated product-market fit and customer traction
- Are looking to do something transformational for your business, such as expand your product, customer base, equity outcomes and/or geographic reach
- Are building solutions that create good quality, local jobs for people who live in frontline communities and are committed to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)
- Are an engaged CEO with a diverse executive team that wants to be an active part of a global ecosystem of change-makers
The priority application deadline is April 14 2023 and applications will be accepted through May 31, 2023.
ASHOKA X HSBC GREEN CHANGEMAKERS CHALLENGE 2023
For the third year in a row, Ashoka and HSBC have joined forces to introduce the “Green Changemakers Challenge.” This international innovation challenge welcomes changemakers with innovative solutions that empower individuals to develop the necessary mindset and skills to contribute towards constructing a sustainable and fair world.
The Green Changemakers Challenge is searching for green changemakers who are:
- Creating inclusive pathways for people to contribute: We’re seeking solutions that are bringing more people into the climate conversation, especially those who have historically been excluded. These solutions are equitable by design and increase diversity in the global community working on climate change.
- Turning data and information into stories that spark action: We’re seeking solutions that are making climate data and knowledge more accessible, and those that are telling inspiring stories to mobilize others to action.
- Creating structures of support for existing solutions: We’re seeking solutions that are built to support other solutions – by enabling the creation of new solutions; scaling existing solutions or making them more visible; and prioritizing the traditional knowledge of those communities who have always preserved our natural resources.
THE GSMA INNOVATION FUND FOR CLIMATE RESILIENCE & ADAPTATION 2.0
The GSMA Innovation Fund is a game-changer in the field of climate resilience, and we’re thrilled to open applications to start-ups, SMEs, and social enterprises worldwide who leverage digital technology to deliver solutions that support low-income and vulnerable population.
The GSMA Innovation Fund for Climate Resilience and Adaptation 2.0 are open to start-ups, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) or social enterprises in Africa, South and South East Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean and selected countries in Europe and Latin America. For this fund they are interested in solutions that use digital technology, especially mobile, to improve resilience and adaptation to climate change, with a higher priority given to applications focusing on one or more of the following:
- Improving resilience and adaptation of vulnerable populations and ecosystems based in coastal areas, small islands, or urban settings.
- Tackling challenges posed by increasingly frequent extreme weather events such as extreme drought, flooding, high winds, wildfire and higher risks of landslips and erosion etc. (with the exclusion of early warning systems).
- Nature-based solutions such as regenerative agriculture, or sustainable forests, coastal areas and wetlands that strengthen biodiversity.
- Sustainable consumption and production, by way of reducing food waste, increasing sustainability and biodiversity of fisheries, and managing air pollution.
The fund provides successful applicants with grant funding ranging from £100,000 to £250,000, with tailored technical assistance, to support their projects over 15 to 18 months. This unique opportunity empowers start-ups to scale their innovations and deliver critical climate action and biodiversity solutions.
CLIMATE IMPACT INNOVATIONS CHALLENGE 2023
Calling all climate tech innovators in Southeast Asia region ! Climate Impact Innovations Challenge 2023, by East Ventures and Temasek Foundation, has officially launched. The CIIC 2023 has set its focus on four key ecological tracks, namely:
- Renewable Energy: New ideas, innovations, and technologies that can disrupt how we generate and enable better adoption and distribution of renewable energy and improve energy efficiency in a low-cost and inclusive manner for urban and rural communities.
- Food and Agriculture: New innovative solutions to transform and improve the way we plant, produce and distribute our foods more sustainably, with methodologies and solutions that help to improve affordability, access, nutrients, as well as reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and waste, thereby, ensuring food security in both urban and rural communities.
- Mobility: New ideas as new services, platforms, and technologies to support the growing demand for sustainable mobility and supply chains.
- Ocean: Innovative solutions to utilize marine resources sustainably to ensure the welfare of coastal communities.
The Climate Impact Innovations Challenge will go through several main agendas until September 2023, which include:
- Open Application (1 March 2023 – 26 May 2023)
- Application Review (27 May 2023 – 24 June 2023),
- Announcement of 12 Finalists (June 2023),
- Mentorship (July 2023), and
- Grand Finale (September 2023).
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