Early-stage climate tech startup founders should not underestimate the amount of time it takes to fundraise, particularly in the current climate where investors are reticent to commit.
The ease of implementation of a solution should also be prioritised to increase the potential of getting more buy-in from adopters.
These are advice given by experts familiar with the climate tech space on what innovators need to increasingly do to advance climate-related solutions in Singapore and globally. These would help them get an idea from prototype to commercialisation.
Clear market signals and policy coherence will be key to enabling climate technologies to scale, said the experts. Speaking on a panel dialogue on innovation at The Liveability Challenge (TLC) Grand Finale 2025, Mark Gainsborough, chairman of Singapore-listed marine engineering company Seatrium, said that technology risk is often the “least of the problem” for startups.
“Is the market going to develop the way as expected and is there a supportive policy framework and regulation? Unfortunately, there are too many cases in the climate tech space where the market hasn’t developed as we expected because of an ever-changing policy and regulation landscape,” he said.
Gainsborough, who has experience mentoring climate innovators, also shared his observations that the lull in climate tech investments now comes as investors are nursing something of a “hangover” following exuberance during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said: “It is a really tough game for startups to raise money at the moment…A lot of things have slowed down, and if you are a founder of a startup, you have to tackle this problem.”
The panel dialogue was moderated by Eco-Business founder and CEO Jessica Cheam.
Magdalene Loh, director of urban systems and solutions at government agency Enterprise Singapore, noted that climate tech solutions must be effectively priced to attract customers, and designed for easy integration into existing systems or processes.
The panellists also shared their views on the support that Singapore provides to startups in the climate tech space. Dr Dazril Phua, chief operating officer of Nandina REM, said that in hard-to-abate sectors like aviation, startups need to learn that they cannot “solve everything” themselves. Working in consortiums or alliances is helpful, he said.
Nandina REM was a finalist at TLC 2024 for their solution to produce industry-grade, circular carbon fibre materials recovered from aircrafts.
Watch the video to hear more on:
- What is climate tech’s ‘X’ factor? [0:00-6:35]
- The state of climate tech funding [6:35-8:00]
- A start-up’s journey and challenges [8:00-9:35]
- Singapore as a testbed for climate-related solutions [9:35-18:30]
- Support initiatives and success stories from Singapore, Asia and beyond [18:30 onwards]
Read more about the winning ideas at TLC 2025.
