Adaptation SME Accelerator Project (ASAP): Latin America and the Caribbean

Innovation to build climate resilience

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About the Program

As the effects of climate change – whether drought, extreme weather, changing precipitation patterns, increasing wildfires, sea level rise, or rising temperatures – continue to unfold globally, the need to help governments, businesses, and communities, especially those that are most vulnerable, adapt to this changing environment grows more urgent.

The need for solutions addressing and adapting to climate change is critical for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The region increasingly faces challenges posed by the physical impacts of climate change (e.g., drought, flooding, landslides, and other extreme weather events).

We are running an accelerator for startups from LAC working on climate adaptation and resilience. Learn more below.

Program Overview

Village Capital, under the Adaptation SME Accelerator Project (ASAP), an initiative led by the Lightsmith Group, supported by the Global Environment Facility, Conservation International, and the Inter-American Development Bank, will accelerate 8 SMEs and startups from Latin America and the Caribbean with market-based business models that offer solutions that can help increase the climate resilience and adaptation of local communities and businesses vulnerable to specific impacts of climate change.

SMEs and startups will participate in a one-week intensive virtual training program that will support companies at the intersection of impact (that is measurable, contextualized, with clear solutions to identified problems), inclusion (entrepreneurs that have deep experience with the problems they seek to address), and investability (sustainable, scalable startups that can drive positive financial and social return).

Cohort Companies

Scaling adaptation and resilience

You should be an SME or startup in LAC developing or offering products and/or services (ideally technology-enabled) that increase the resilience of target users to the impacts of climate change by either -

1. Addressing systemic barriers to adaptation by strengthening users’ ability to understand and respond to physical climate risks - either chronic or acute - and related impacts and/or capture related opportunities.

2. Preventing or reducing physical climate risk - either chronic or acute - and/or any adverse associated impacts on assets, economic activities, people, or nature.

The climate resilience and adaptation solutions offered should also strive to be as minimally carbon-intensive as possible.

Examples include (but are not limited to):

1. Agriculture - Solutions that increase the productivity and resource efficiency of the agricultural sector and/or address risks in the supply chain and weather disruptions. This includes businesses that provide precision agriculture solutions, soil and seed treatments, data and analytics-based solutions for farming and supply chain efficiency, greenhouse and indoor agriculture solutions. Risk mitigating & profiling solutions for financial services (lending and insurance) to the agri sector are also included.

2. Transportation, Logistics, Infrastructure - Businesses that help users understand, analyze, and manage climate risks on physical infrastructure, the built environment, transportation and logistics operations. This includes geospatial analytics, fleet management or routing software, smart logistics solutions, cold chain storage solutions, supply chain software solutions (with a focus on those managing risks from weather), solutions for risk prediction and management due to weather & climate change disruptions. Solutions that provide geospatial mapping solutions and smart infrastructure solutions in key sectors such as utilities may also be included.

3. Climate Risk Analytics and Risk Management – Businesses that offer products or services for understanding and managing weather and physical climate risks. This may include weather forecasting, natural catastrophe risk modeling (e.g., flood, cyclone, heat wave, etc.), wildfire prediction, as well as products for managing such risk e.g., weather risk-transfer products, weather-based parametric insurance, early warning systems. This may also include related consulting services focused on helping clients understand or manage climate risks, or helping clients incorporate forward-looking climate scenarios into decision-making (e.g., climate resilient infrastructure design).

4. Water - Businesses that provide sustainable drinking water solutions, smart water management solutions, efficient irrigation, wastewater treatment, early warning systems, water risk management and mitigation solutions, amongst others.

5. Energy - Companies that provide microgrid solutions, distributed energy systems, smart energy infrastructure, and new age energy storage solutions, amongst others, specifically in areas with unreliable electricity due to climate impacts such as extreme weather.

6. Health – Climate change is changing disease vectors and making vector-borne diseases more prevalent in many parts of the world. Businesses that can help users predict and analyze these changing environments, provide disease surveillance systems, remote diagnostic solutions, health solutions for the last mile and testing solutions amongst others.

Benefits startups will receive:

Connections

Build deep connections with other founders in your cohort and our larger Village Capital investor and alumni network.

Mentorship

Network with mentors ranging from investors to potential strategic partners and customers.

Training

Join interactive sessions tailored to help your company identify early milestones and prepare for your next round of capital.

Advice

Work with an investment analyst who will coach you 1:1 on building a financial model, identifying unit economics, and using financial metrics.

Exposure

Get featured on Village Capital’s program website and other collateral.

Program Timeline

Program launch

February 28

Applications close

April 8

Cohort Announcement

May 13

Orientation Webinar

May 23

Pre-Program

May 24 - June 12

Accelerator Program

June 13 - 17

TA Support Period for Selected Startups

July to September, 2022

Latest News

Eight Startups Focused on Climate Change Selected for Village Capital’s Climate Accelerator: The Adaptation SME Accelerator Project (ASAP)

Village Capital and The Lightsmith Group will accelerate eight startups that are scaling climate adaptation and resilience solutions in Latin America and Caribbean.

Applications Open In Latin America & Caribbean For Climate Accelerator: The Adaptation SME Accelerator Project (ASAP)

Village Capital and The Lightsmith Group will accelerate eight startups that are scaling climate adaptation and resilience solutions in Latin America and Caribbean.

Village Capital Partners with The Lightsmith Group on Adaptation SME Accelerator Project (ASAP)

Village Capital and The Lightsmith Group will accelerate twenty-four SMEs and startups that are scaling climate adaptation and resilience solutions in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Learn more about mentoring with Village Capital