Singapore-based climate venture builder 100X100 is looking to invest more in India. The country has high emissions, a strong pool of experienced entrepreneurs, and better access to late-stage funding. These factors encourage further commitment, according to a partner at the firm.
“We’re seeing a lot of people who want to solve problems. Conversations are coming back around food security and climate change. Whether it is coming back with a big climate sticker on it or not is secondary, but the underlying urgency is very much the same,” said Subhadeep Sanyal, partner at 100X100, in an interview with Mint.
100X100 started investing in India in the second half of 2024 and has made four investments there so far; one of these, Elevate Foods, has since failed. The firm plans to use a new $150 million fund to support up to 50 companies across India and Southeast Asia, but it has not yet started using this capital.
This move comes at a time when investor interest in climate-focused startups is declining. Many funds have reported poor returns and skepticism about growth potential in the past. However, 100X100 believes that India’s rapid economic growth and significant emissions make investment in this sector essential, not optional.
“We are one of the fastest-growing countries in the world. We are also one of the largest emitters in the world. And at some point, if we don’t decouple our economic growth with emissions growth, then I think it will be a challenge for us also as a country,” Sanyal said.
India’s ranking on the Climate Change Performance Index (CCPI) dropped from rank 10 in 2025 to rank 23 this year, primarily due to the lack of a pathway to phasing out coal. The index recommends that India commits to “time-bound coal phase-down and eventually a phase-out and redirecting fossil subsidies toward decentralised, community-owned renewable energy.”
The firm’s approach is as a venture builder, co-creating companies alongside founders, instead of venture capital, which provides only equity. It collaborates with founders to develop ideas over a 6-month period, provides capital and support for about 18 months. By then, companies are ready for a fresh equity round.
Structuring fund II
While there’s a hard cap of $150 million on paper, Sanyal said they’re more comfortable with an investment vehicle of about $100-120 million. The firm has not yet begun deploying capital and is currently pitching to limited partners (LPs). It only received permission to market its new fund in May.
In Fund I, LPs included the US International Development Finance Corporation, British International Investment, the Singapore Economic Development Board, Triple Jump, and the Kajima Corporation.
Given the firm’s thesis on climate and the environment, it creates a template before deploying capital. “We do what we call a carbon map—looking at where the largest pockets of emissions are happening today. Across India and SEA where emissions are happening today are very similar. They are in energy, agriculture, mobility, the built-up environment, and industry/ manufacturing,” Sanyal said.
The approach is sector-agnostic within those buckets: 100X100’s India portfolio spans Biora, a farm-waste-to-biofuel company; rail logistics software startup Ecomet; and NeoTerra, which is reimagining home cooling by combining it with solar energy.
First cheques average around $800,000, with the firm reserving capital to deploy up to $3 million per company across follow-on rounds. Roughly 40% of fund capital goes toward first cheques, with the remaining 60% set aside for follow-ons. In exchange, 100X100 typically takes a meaningfully larger stake than a conventional early-stage investor, up to 30% in the companies that it helps co-create.
Typically, pre-seed and seed investors in the country can take anywhere from as low as 10% to as high as 25% in equity, depending on the size of the cheque being written and the valuation being assigned to the company.
Doubling down in a quiet sector
The firm is betting on the depth of India’s founder pool, particularly operators who have already built or scaled businesses in other sectors and are now turning to climate-linked problems. Sanyal said the firm runs a highly selective sourcing process to find them and that 80% of their founders and second or third-time entrepreneurs.
India is home to a clutch of climate and impact-focused venture funds including Avaana Capital, which just raised its $135 million Climate and Sustainability Fund; Green Frontier Capital is in the process of raising its maiden fund, sized between $75-100 million; Omnivore VC, an impact fund focused on agritech, food systems, climate resilience, and the rural economy and is investing from its $150 million third fund. There’s also Zerodha’s Rainmatter, which writes early-stage cheques to companies across sectors, including climate.