The SDG Venture Scaler aims to strengthen investment-ready businesses by addressing funding barriers, scaling challenges, and sustainability integration, ensuring that high-impact enterprises can secure the capital needed for growth and long-term success.
NEW YORK and SINGAPORE — The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in collaboration with the Centre for Impact Investing Practices (CIIP), has announced the selection of 31 enterprises for the SDG Venture Scaler (SVS), an accelerator designed to mobilize private sector investment into businesses tackling climate change, healthcare, and education challenges across Indonesia, the Philippines, and Viet Nam.
RELEVANT SUSTAINABLE GOALS
With over 60% of the selected enterprises focused on climate action, the initiative signals a major push towards sustainable solutions in clean energy, AI-driven waste management, fintech, edtech, the circular economy, EV mobility, and mental health.
The SDG Venture Scaler aims to strengthen investment-ready businesses by addressing funding barriers, scaling challenges, and sustainability integration, ensuring that high-impact enterprises can secure the capital needed for growth and long-term success.
Bridging the Investment Gap in Southeast Asia
Despite Southeast Asia’s rapid economic growth, the region receives only 3% of global impact investment capital. The SDG Venture Scaler is set to change this by providing structured mentorship, financing strategies, and institutional support to enterprises with scalable business models and strong sustainability potential.
“Southeast Asia is on track to become the world’s fourth-largest economy, yet impact-driven businesses still face major funding obstacles,” noted Dr. Şebnem Şener, Head of Private Finance for the SDGs, UNDP. “By strengthening investment-ready enterprises and connecting them with fit-for-purpose funding, we are unlocking private capital for solutions that advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while delivering long-term business value.”
Dawn Chan, CEO of CIIP at Temasek Trust, emphasized the potential for businesses to drive meaningful impact while generating strong financial returns:
Southeast Asia presents a vast market opportunity to tackle climate, healthcare, and education challenges. The SDG Venture Scaler helps enterprises leverage these opportunities to build scalable business models and embed sustainability from the outset.
A Regional Approach to Accelerating Impact Enterprises
The 31 enterprises selected for the program come from across three key markets:
- 12 enterprises in Viet Nam
- 10 enterprises in Indonesia
- 6 enterprises in the Philippines
- 3 enterprises operating across all three markets
These businesses are not just high-potential startups—many are already actively fundraising or seeking corporate and government partnerships to scale their solutions. The SDG Venture Scaler curriculum, launched on March 4, is tailored to their specific needs, focusing on:
- Investment-readiness training
- Sustainability and impact measurement tools
- Scaling and go-to-market strategies
- Data integrity for financial and impact accountability
The program is backed by three regional forums that provided insights into common barriers and opportunities for sustainable business models in ASEAN markets. View the finalists here.
Guillaume Catella, Co-founder of Creatella Impact, stressed the importance of equipping enterprises with the right financing tools:
Access to funding is a game-changer for enterprises in ASEAN, enabling them to scale solutions that drive both economic growth and measurable impact.
Building an Ecosystem for Sustainable Investment
The SDG Venture Scaler is part of the UNDP Sustainable Finance Hub’s global Pipeline Builder initiative, which aims to channel private capital into businesses aligned with the SDGs. The program also leverages partnerships with leading impact investors and technical support from Creatella Impact and its regional network, including:
- WISE (Women’s Entrepreneurship and Business Support Initiative) – Viet Nam
- Villgro Philippines – The Philippines
- SIAP (Social Innovation Acceleration Programme) – Indonesia
- Erasmus Centre for Entrepreneurship (ECE) – Academic Partner
With sustainability at the core, the initiative is set to catalyze impact-driven businesses, proving that profitability and purpose can go hand in hand in shaping a more sustainable future.
As these 31 enterprises embark on their journey through the SDG Venture Scaler, the broader ASEAN impact investment ecosystem will be watching closely.
With the right mix of policy support, private capital, and innovation, Southeast Asia is poised to become a global leader in sustainable business models and impact-driven investment.
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