Category: Investment
Asia Climate Partners Invest US$20 Million In US-Based Fluidic Energy To Expand Renewable Energy Access In Southeast Asia
As part of their vision initiative to provide renewable energy access to Southeast Asia, ADB-backed private equity firm Asia Climate Partners (ACP) has made a US$20 million investment in Fluidic Energy, a provider of intelligent storage solutions based in Scottsdale.
By supporting Fluidic Energy’s expansion of its game-changing, intelligent and low-cost storage technology, ACP hopes to extend renewable energy access to Southeast Asia while limiting carbon intensive energy adoption and advocating the replacements of environmentally damaging diesel generator sets, the company says in a statement.
“We are excited about this investment for many reasons, including the commercial traction of Fluidic Energy’s product and its proven ability to deliver in diverse environments and harsh conditions, competitive position in its target market; and the team’s commitment to high environmental standards and improving lives through its business offering,” said Duarte Da Silva, the Managing Director of Asia Climate Partners.
One of Fluidic Energy recent projects was the deployment of over 22 MWh of energy storage to 96 PV and energy storage powered rural electrification projects across Indonesia. This has provided clean and reliable energy to over 110,000 people.
“Energy storage is a key enabler of widespread decentralized renewable energy generation and we see enormous potential in other core countries like Indonesia and the Philippines as well as our own country India, that have high penetration of diesel generation and low electrification rates,” Duarte adds.
Furthermore, this lies in line with the initiative of Asian Asia Climate Partners, which exists as a joint venture between the Asian Development Bank, ORIX, and Robeco. The company is dedicated to clean energy, resource efficiency and environment sectors in the Asia-Pacific region. The company
Though based in Arizona, Fluidic Energy, however, has a strong presence in Asia, having established a regional headquarter and manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia. Fluidic Energy has also been manufacturing its energy storage systems in Indonesia since 2011 and supplying its system to both telecom and rural electrification.
“We appreciate this partnership with ACP, including their regional expertise and the synergy that we can create with our combined vision of leveraging technology and investment to truly chnge lives in Asia and those around the world,” Steve Scharnhorst, CEO of Fluidic Energy said.
Of the more than 1.2 billion people without electricity on our planet today, 600 million are living in Asia. “Although we were founded in the U.S. and offer solutions for markets such as telecom, grid firming, and critical power, we immediately recognized the positive impact we could have in the Asia-Pacific region. We focused much of our commercialization strategy on Asia for the first several years simply because there was a problem that we knew we could help fix,” said Steve Scharnhorst, CEO of Fluidic Energy.
By combining the best energy and power centric technologies with integrated intelligence, Fluidic uniquely approaches the market with a whole product solution optimized for long duration and harsh environmental settings. A key enabler for Fluidic’s hybrid solutions is its proprietary Zinc-air battery technology, which is optimal for long duration applications due to its unique air-breathing architecture. Using “free” air allows for significantly lower costs as runtimes extend.
Fluidic solutions can store large amounts of energy and discharge that energy over several days, providing autonomy to villages and communities. This autonomy allows communities to adopt renewables, without sacrificing continuous, reliable electricity; remaining fully functional even when there is limited sunshine for days. In comparison to mini-grids that provide only a few hours of autonomy, days of autonomy helps empower these areas via economic growth and commercial activities. The environmental benefits speak for themselves: lower emissions while using no lead, cadmium, mercury, fossil fuels or other toxic elements; displacement of diesel generators and lead acid batteries and reduced CO2.
To date, the company has shipped more than 100,000 batteries worldwide and impacted more than three million people and thousands of communities by delivering reliable, affordable electricity to businesses and homes in diverse and difficult operating climates. The company recently announced an ambitious commitment to bring affordable and reliable energy to 100 million people globally by 2025.
Asia Climate Partners (ACP)
ACP is also one of the largest private equity platforms for environmental finance emerging in Asia, with approximately US$440 million of investment capital to date.
The private equity fund is looking to partner with market-leading Asian businesses of significant growth in India, China and South East Asia with a particular focus on the clean energy, resource efficiency and environmental sectors.
Earlier this year, the mid-market private equity fund had acquired a stake in Indian cold chain logistics company ColdEX Logistics Pvt Ltd, the largest and fastest growing private company in the sector for an undisclosed amount.
For more information, please visit http://asiaclimatepartners.com.hk/
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
Philippines To Have Its Own Shark Tank Style Funding Show – I’m In
For those who have enjoyed the seven seasons and 142 episodes under the ABC’s Shark Tanks, there is a new show that showcases entrepreneurs and their pitches as well, but with the backdrop set in the Philippines.
All caught on camera, the new show – I’m In – will feature local aspiring entrepreneur as contestants that will make business presentations to a panel of investors, who will later decide whether they are interested in investing or not.
The show will provide the platform and opportunity for entrepreneurs who have a great idea or solution to real-world problems but otherwise do not have the access to venture capital or a place to showcase their talent.
The format of the show is fairly simple, patterned after the United States Shark Tank. That is the entrepreneurs must introduce the investor panel their product, the amount of money they wish to raise and the valuation they demand. Afterward, it depends on the panel members if they wish to invest.
But beforehand, the contestant’s pitch and proposal is commented and questioned by the panel of investors who may ask tough questions about the business model. At times, the investor may even give a counter offer to the entrepreneur which may be lower than the valuation he or she is asking. But in the worst case scenario, where all of the panel members opt out, the entrepreneur will have to leave empty handed.
Despite that, participants of the show will definitely get a chance to market their idea to the world. That is a chance to become the next Breathometer, which since its Shark Tank experience in season 5, has secured an additional US$6.5 million in funding as well as a partnership with the prestigious Cleveland Clinic. But even if they don’t strike a deal with investors, the guidance and feedback received once adopted has seen most startups having a significant upside in valuations.
Additionally, the startup funding show will be hosted by Winston Damarillo, an enterprise transformation expert who is presently PLDT’s Capital Managing Director, and the Founder and CEO of digital and big data solution firms Amihan Global Strategies (AGSX) and Acalep. Winston Damarillo is also one of the co-chairman of OCEAN (Open Collaboration with East Asia New Champions), a biennial gathering of leaders across sectors in the Philippines.
“Our aim for the show is obviously to get this new breed of entrepreneurs to be funded by angel investors who are here because they have a very strong interest in supporting the next generation of entrepreneurs for the country,” Winston Damarillo, the host of I’m In said.
But as a whole, “I’m In” is created with the goal to create a funding event for indiepreneurs or people who are in businesses focusing on the creative economy such as those related to food, music, arts, fashion or technology like government transparency among others. Besides funding, the show could also help indiepreneurs get support in terms of mentoring
“At the same time, we are going to connect crowdfunding to venture funding.” Damarillo said. He noted the I’m In show is not about finding the next Facebook, Google, Uber, or Airbnb, but the next mass industry in the Philippines. “The goal is to fund hundreds of creative entrepreneurs which we think are severely underserved. They are industries that if we do well can accelerate and even improve the Philippines’ position as one of the fastest growing economies in Asia,” Damarillo said.
This is not the first time that a production house is launching a show based on the Shark Tank concept. India’s The Vault which aired in September is also based off Shark Tank. Furthermore, Shark Tank origins itself is also derived from a live funding TV show created by Sony Pictures in Japan in 2001 called the Money Tigers which was later renamed to Dragon’s Den.
Nonetheless, Philippines – I’m In is being crafted as a dual-screen show, intended to aired on TV and live stream online so viewers can interact and engage. The TV network that will carry the show has yet to be announced.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
China’s HTC Places US$1.5 Billion Investment Fund In Research Center For Virtual Reality
The Virtual Reality hype continues to grow in China as Taiwan-listed smartphone maker HTC Corporation advances its grip in the sector by creating an RMB 10 billion (about US$1.5 billion) investment fund in a VR research center. This is a sector that the company has taken interest this year when it decided to diversify its range of products through expanding to VR devices amid a declining demand for cell phones in the global market.
On a similar vein, HTC Corporation has previously launched HTC Vive, the company’s first VR device that met the market last year in Beijing. Following this, the company now pursue to sign a strategic partnership with Shenzhen municipal government in China, creating a research center that is meant to boost virtual reality developments.
Based on the partnership agreement, Shenzhen municipal will support HTC to form the China VR Research Institute and promote Virtual Reality development together with the establishment of the US$1.5 Billion Shenzhen VR Industry Fund.
The new investment fund targets to attract enterprises involved in the VR industry, and investment from within China and other countries as well. The new partnership is determined to achieve breakthroughs in the core technologies of sensors, display, graphics, data visualization, human-machine interaction, and other related areas.
It will also create an innovation system in which enterprises, universities, research institutes, and investment organizations can all participate and drive the evolution of the ecosystem together. VR technology applications across various industries, such as healthcare, military, engineering, design, and manufacturing, will be highlighted.
Established by HTC and the Shenzhen Industry Guiding Fund, the Shenzhen VR Investment Fund is visioned to become the world’s largest single VR-focused fund, assisting the development of the VR sector as well as accelerating the growth of related startups.
From June to October this year, HTC assisted the Shenzhen Municipal Science and Technology Innovation Committee in creating the Action Plan for Promoting Technological Innovation and Industry Application in Shenzhen’s VR Industry (2016-2020). This cooperation was touted as instrumental in laying a foundation of collaboration for the future development of VR.
Prior to this, the Taiwan-based consumer electronics firm HTC Corp has also admitted eight new members to the Virtual Reality Venture Capital Alliance (VRVCA) which is a consortium of the world’s top VCs who aim to invest and support. The event is supported by 42 investors members.
“Virtual reality will transform the way we interact with the world. We can see enormous business opportunities arising from this disruptive innovation,” Cher Wang, co-founder and CEO of HTC said.
VR is forecast to be a US$30 billion market by 2020, according to tech M&A advisor Digi-Capital. Henceforth, the company US$10 billion investment would be a third of the industry’s total market size in the next four years.
By Vivian Foo, Unicorn Media
Huawei Invest US$1 Million Into New AI Research Partnership With UC Berkeley
Artificial intelligence has been heralded as the trend in the tech industry presently. In the latest news on that front, China’s Huawei and University of California, Berkeley are forging a research partnership focusing on basic Artificial Intelligence (AI) research. The Chinese technology company will be providing US$1 million into funding the research.
Additionally, the partnership will be between Huawei Noah’s Ark Laboratory and Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR), with the research unit being billed as “a strategic partnership into basic research” will be concentrated on the development of machine learning, AI and data mining.
As such, Huawei and UC Berkeley researches will work on the next wave of Artificial Intelligence technology, specifically catering to specific AI related domains such as deep learning, machine learning, natural language processing, computer vision and reinforcement learning.
But ultimately, the aim of the partnership is not only to advance Artificial Intelligence research but instead to find uses for the technology among the daily life of the society, that is into real-world application rather than have it confined as mere theoretical models in the laboratory.
“The two parties believe that this strategic partnership will fuel the advancement of AI technology and create completely new experiences for people, thus contributing greatly to society at large,” said Huawei.
In practicality, the advancements made at the Berkeley lab would be similar to Google with its AI assistant or Microsoft and its Cortana virtual assistance, that is adding an AI powered feature into the smartphone or tablet software.
Contact Info
Name: Vivian
Organization: Unicorn Media
Next Unicorn Ventures, a New Early-Stage Capital and Incubator, Appoints Daniel Tan as CEO For Growth and Deal Flow
Malaysian startup and incubator ecosystem now has a new player on the block. Next Unicorn Ventures (NUV), a Malaysia-based early-stage capital and incubator firm will invest in seed rounds of exceptional startups in the Asia Pacific region which are founded with great passion and vision that set out to disrupt the world. The board has appointed Daniel Tan as the Chief Executive Officer.
“Our goal is to make lead investment in early-to-middle stages startups, specifically focusing on their pre-Series A seed rounds. Daniel Tan is the perfect leader to drive this forward as he has very good business acumen, experienced both as an investor and growing of startups, as well as leadership in marketing and business development,” said a shareholder of Next Unicorn Ventures.
Daniel Tan, who is also serving as the CEO of MarketersMEDIA leads the company to serve more than 50,000 customers globally. Notably MarketersMEDIA has also grown to become a leading News and Press Release newswire connecting business with media outlets including CBS, NBC, Fox, ABC, AssociatedPress, Reuters and more, in a mission to gather audiences for businesses. MarketersMEDIA is named the official newswire to assist PR and content marketing for Next Unicorn Ventures’ portfolio companies.
“All businesses exist because of customers,” is the motto Daniel Tan strides on. His user-first approach has gathered him more than 100 published testimonials from companies, individuals and customers. And undoubtedly, this would be a required trait to grow startups the firm seeds.
To-date, NUV has invested in 2 startups, a hotel startup running under the DoubleTree by Hilton and CitizenM brands and a gaming company positioned to run the first ever VR theme park in Malaysia, who has just won South East Asia Champion in Create@Alibaba Cloud Startup Contest recently.
“We look forward to build a portfolio of 20 to 25 companies in the next few years and at the same time to assist related players and circles to build Malaysia’s roadshow platform and incubators,” Daniel Tan added, “as we believe startups have the unique ability to move humanity forward in an unprecedented manner.”
For more information, please visit http://72.52.148.95/~nextunic/
About Next Unicorn:
Next Unicorn is an early-stage capital and incubator seeking to invest in pre-Series A seed rounds. The company pursues, advises and invests in startups cutting across different industries. Ultimately, their goal is to identify unique companies that can deliver extraordinary practical values and make a change in the world.
Contact Info:
Name: Vivian Foo
Organization: Unicorn Media