THE LIGHTSMITH GROUP IS a private equity firm pursuing superior financial returns along with measurable social and environmental impacts by investing in companies that address major societal needs. Lightsmith partners with growth-stage companies and helps the companies scale their solutions globally.
Focus areas include technology-enabled business services and solutions in the areas of energy, water, food and agriculture, and climate resilience solutions.
Climate Resilience Solutions
THE CLIMATE RESILIENCE INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY
Businesses and governments are already spending over $130 billion annually on data and analytics, resilience services, and resource efficiency technologies to manage volatility, resource scarcity, and physical damage and disruption. This spending is in several existing, fast-growing market segments that will grow even faster as businesses, governments, and consumers spend more to deal with the risks and impacts that are being intensified by climate change. Lightsmith’s 500+ company investment pipeline includes companies providing business intelligence as well as technology-enabled services that enhance resilience in areas such as supply chain analytics, weather modeling, precision agriculture, water efficiency, distributed energy, business continuity, disaster response, infrastructure engineering, and parametric insurance that will grow faster due to this macro trend.
CONVENING INVESTORS ON CLIMATE ADAPTATION AND RESILIENCE
The Lightsmith Group is the founder and convener of the Global Adaptation & Resilience Investment (GARI) Working Group. GARI is a group of over 100 private investors and other stakeholders gathering to discuss the impacts and risks of climate change affecting investment portfolios as well as the opportunities for investing in climate adaptation and resilience solutions. For more, please see: garigroup.com
THE GLOBAL LAB FOR INNOVATION IN CLIMATE FINANCE
The Lightsmith Group is developing a concept for investments in climate adaptation and resilience solutions. The concept recently won the endorsement of the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance
Investment Criteria
They seek to partner with growth-stage companies meeting the following criteria:
FOCUS AREAS
Companies providing technology-enabled business services and solutions that address critical societal needs, including in the areas of energy, water, food and agriculture, and climate resilience solutions.
ESTABLISHED BUSINESSES, READY TO SCALE
Have proven technologies and business models with significant revenues and demonstrated customer validation in existing markets
ATTRACTIVE ECONOMICS
Attractive gross margins and ability to grow profitability
LEADING MARKET POSITION
Established a top market position within an its sub-sector or market segment
PERSISTENT ADVANTAGE
Will be able to sustain its market position and profitability in future through a durable differentiation or competitive advantage
SUPERIOR MANAGEMENT
Talented management teams with proven ability to scale businesses
ESG & METRICS
Have or can put Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) processes in place and can apply key performance indicators to assess social and environmental impacts