IMPACTASSETS 50™
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
ImpactAssets 50
An Annual Showcase of Impact Investment Fund Managers
Sangam Ventures
Climate Change
Food Systems and Agriculture
Natural Resources and ConservationFirm Overview
Sangam Ventures is a science-based, thesis-driven venture fund that invests to improve access to sustainable energy and resource productivity solutions for the underserved in India that can lead to inclusive development and creation of communities that are resilient to climate change. We focus on diminishing the stock of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere – anywhere on the planet, either by abating new emissions into the atmosphere or sequestering it and ideally reversing it. We do this with a sense of urgency but by providing patient capital. We primarily target seed to series-A investments with a focus on supporting close to commercialization start-ups with achieving product-market fit and impact at scale. We believe our strategy to invest early and stay invested in our start-ups as they scale will provide disproportionate returns to our investors.
Years of Operation: Less than 3 years
% of Capital from Top 3 Investors: 50% – 99%
We follow secular drivers for investing in clean technologies for emerging markets including transition away from fossil fuels, stressed natural resources, productivity gap in SMEs and agriculture, rapid urbanization and consumption-driven aspirational growth of consumer markets
We invest in enterprises bringing market-based, IP-driven clean technologies or innovative business models with strong ESG principles to market in the following areas: Energy Transition – innovations that accelerate decarbonization of energy including generation, storage, and usage in the electricity sector and electric, alternative fuel and shared mobility solutions for the transport sector. Sustainable Production and Consumption – innovations that assist consumers to make sustainable consumption choices and businesses to adopt responsible production including low-GHG refrigeration, energy efficiency and recycling. Climate-smart land-use – solutions that promote regenerative agriculture and agro-forestry, improve soil carbon and microbiome, replenishes watersheds along with farm(er)-positive supply chains that stems food loss. Inclusive economy – beyond mitigation technologies, to ensure permanence and inclusiveness of the impact generated, we support cross-cutting solutions that help SMEs adopt future-proof technologies, build a gender balanced vibrant workplace and creation of resilient communities that preserve local cultures and biodiversity.
We have taken on the mandate to deep dive into sectors that are significantly underinvested to build the conviction to make early-stage investments to move the sector forward. This allows us to see opportunities where others don’t. Our additionality is driven by: 1. Mobilizing capital to emerging market cleantech innovators struggling to access early-stage risk capital by providing the first institutional capital and leading investment rounds. 2. Growing new markets by focusing on underserved in low-income regions of India and neighbouring countries that can generate irreversible long-term impact. 3. Once invested, we take our thesis work forward by working actively with the investees to commercialize their innovations by helping them engage with the right customers, partners, and talent. Along the way, we create great inclusive places to work. 4. We leverage our in-house incubator to de-risk investments into nascent sectors by building an ecosystem around the start-ups pre-investment.
Investment Example
Promethean Energy has built unique waste heat recovery solutions for industrial applications. Promethean’s core offering is technologies that recover low-grade waste heat (<150 0C) and redirecting it to industrial processes that require heating, driving up to 75% energy savings across SMEs in the manufacturing sector, thereby reducing overall fuel usage and carbon footprint. Low-grade waste heat is a significant but underinvested segment of the energy efficiency market. Promethean Energy’s vision has been in line with Sangam Venture’s thesis which drives investments in energy transition, sustainable energy, and resource productivity solutions. We helped the founders invest into a digital technology platform that provides real time monitoring and drives transparency to enable an Energy Savings as a Service (ESCo) business model. Higher quality repeatable ESCo revenue builds up over time and can act as a driver of margins and upside potential. It also drives adoption in SMEs by making it affordable.
Leadership and Team
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Karthik Chandrasekar – Founder & CEO More Info
Karthik leads all fund activities. Prior to starting Sangam, Karthik led and managed investments for Acumen including Orb Energy, Husk Power Systems, Avani Bioenergy, Guardian MFI and GEWP. Prior to Acumen, Karthik led consumer focused cleantech investments for TVS Capital Funds. Karthik spends a lot of his time with the portfolio and within the clean technology eco-system in India and globally to help entrepreneurs get the right partners – customers, financiers and policy makers to ensure success. Additionally, Karthik serves on the investment committee of the SELCO Energy Access Fund and the board of Husk Power Systems and leads the TiE-Delhi NCR Cleantech SIG. Prior to his MBA, Karthik worked in the US with Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs & Co. Karthik is a chemical engineer from IIT Bombay, a Master’s in Public Policy from Carnegie Mellon University and a Chicago Booth MBA. |
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Anisha Patnaik – Legal Counsel (Venture Partner) More Info
Founder at LexStart.in, serves as our legal counsel. Previously Anisha was a Partner at K-Law and led multiple investment mandates with Karthik as Acumen’s legal counsel. |
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Deepika Sood – Investor Relations (Venture Partner) More Info
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Financial Performance
Impact Performance
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Percentage of Total Assets Under
Management that are Impact Investments: |
100%
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Sangam only invests in enterprises that actively contribute new solutions to tackling the climate crisis. Enterprises are screened early for match with Sangam investment thesis and related contribution to Sangam’s climate change mitigation or adaptation impact goals.
Sangam’s Impact Strategy and Responsible Investment Framework applies to Sangam and its underlying portfolio companies and any other partner institutions we work with. Sangam is cognizant that its portfolio companies may not be compliant at the time of investment, Sangam works with portfolio companies to develop Environmental and Social Action Plans (ESAPs) and achieve compliance within defined time frames. Our follow-on investments into enterprises are contingent on the enterprises meeting their impact goals while failure to reach compliance may trigger remedial actions. We will review and revise our approach annually. While early screening and due diligence, we follow the below: • Early review for ensuring adherence for ESG policy or potential to be aligned with policy within a short period of investment • Evaluate Founders’ propensity to adopt a policy aligned with the Sangam ESG policy framework • Potential ESG risks and opportunities to mitigate the same must be assessed
Impact Tracking and Monitoring
Learn More
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