SBI Ventures plans to launch Rs 2,000 crore climate-focussed fund in Jan-March

SBI Ventures, an alternative asset manager promoted by State Bank of India (SBI), intends to raise Rs 2,000 crore for its third climate-focused fund to invest in startups.

It will help unlock green growth, a new financial opportunity, SBI Ventures Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Prem Prabhakar said while speaking at the second edition of the IVCA Green Returns Summit here.

Domestic and global investors will be roped in for the fund, and the roadshow will start early next year, he said.


"We are targeting to launch a Rs 2,000 crore fund in the first quarter of the next calendar year," he added.

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The fund would invest in early and growth-stage climate startups -- particularly, in frontier climate technologies and AI-enabled climate innovations.

He further said India is evolving into a lab and launchpad for global climate innovation, especially in areas such as cooling technologies, low-carbon materials, nature-based solutions, waste, and circularity.

Prabhakar pointed to the estimated requirement of USD 170 billion annually to meet India's climate goals, three times the current flow of funds.

The largest financing deficits, he said, are in adaptation and resilience sectors like water security, climate-smart agriculture, and disaster-proof infrastructure.

He called for a multi-layered climate financing model that blends equity, concessional capital, philanthropic risk-taking, and innovative structures, such as climate resilience bonds and carbon markets.

"Climate finance cannot rely on equity alone," he said, adding that the ecosystem needs to scale blended finance, de-risk first-of-its-kind technologies, and build institutional capacity across the investment chain.