The Brief

ImpactAlpha LP/GP: Temasek: Now is the time for private equity investment in climate adaptation

ImpactAlpha · May 13, 2025

Greetings, Agents of Impact!

Welcome to this week’s ImpactAlpha LP/GP, where we take you inside the real business of impact investing and the dynamic relationships between owners, managers and intermediaries of impact capital.

In this week’s newsletter:

Private equity opportunities in climate adaptation and resilience
Synergos Holdings’ continuum fund
Blackstone’s power play
Mubadala’s moment

Featured: Climate Private Equity

Temasek on hot sectors for PE investment in climate adaptation and resilience. It’s been called the “unavoidable opportunity,” as emissions already baked into the atmosphere will profoundly alter weather patterns for decades to come. Climate adaptation and resilience, or A&R, once considered uninvestable, has quickly become what the $288 billion Singapore state-owned global investment company Temasek is calling “one of the defining markets of the future.” The market for climate intelligence solutions, for example, is expected to grow 15% on a compound annual basis over the next five years. Demand for flood defense systems: up as much as 10%. Climate-resilient building materials are expected to see up to 8% compound annual growth. “Private equity investors can invest behind the swelling demand for A&R solutions and generate attractive returns,” according to “The private equity opportunity in climate adaptation and resilience” from Temasek and the consultancy BCG. As governments, communities and businesses look to strengthen climate defenses, “The market is primed for investors to act now.”

Market demand. Climate-smart agricultural inputs, cooling systems, supply-chain resilience, and climate insurance are seeing the most private investment activity in the A&R space, and have strong market demand. On the other end of the spectrum, urban planning, climate-related disease research, social protections, and adaptation-focused lending all have low investment activity, the report says. “What investors need is a classification system based on how markets are structured, with comparisons of market sizes and growth rates, competitive dynamics and profitability,” BCG and Temasek argue. The firms have mapped out seven main opportunity sectors – from food and water to infrastructure and energy – based on investment readiness, stage of development and commercialization, and market demand. An estimated $1.3 trillion a year is needed annually to help communities adapt to climate change.
Investment ready. The development of commercial crop seeds is still largely the domain of scrappy biotech startups and agriculture giants with large R&D budgets; there isn’t yet much room for private equity. More PE-ready: crop protection, which offers growth funding and buyout opportunities. Temasek-backed Pivot Bio’s soil inputs are meant to reduce dependence on synthetic fertilizers. Pairwise last year gathered a $40 million Series C round, with backing from growth-stage investor Aliment Capital, for its plant gene-editing technology. Another here-and-now opportunity: climate intelligence solutions, such as climate risk analytics and early warning systems. S&P, for example, acquired The Climate Service, which quantifies climate risks for corporations, investors, and governments. Moody’s nabbed Four Twenty Seven, a provider of physical climate risk data. Such consolidation, the authors say, “show the possible exit strategies for private equity investors in this segment.”
First movers. The nascent stage of the market means that PE investors can get in early at low valuations and help companies scale their adaptation solutions. That won’t last for long. New York-based Lightsmith Group, which raised a $185 million fund in 2019, is piloting a one-stop-shop for adaptation startups that can provide credit and technical assistance in addition to equity capital (see, “Jay Koh, the Lightsmith Group: Financing climate adaptation and resilience”). The European asset manager Mirova debuted its $250 million Environment Acceleration Capital Fund in 2021. The fund will invest in smart cities, agtech and recycling and reuse. Blue Orchard’s second InsuResilience Investment Fund raised $100 million to invest in insurance solutions for farmers and small businesses in Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Keep reading, “Temasek on hot sectors for PE investment in climate adaptation and resilience,” by Amy Cortese and Jessica Pothering on ImpactAlpha.

Dealflow: Growth Capital

Synergos Holdings’ evergreen fund for ‘fee-sensitive’ LPs. A year ago, Michelle Urben made a seed investment in a Washington, DC-based nuclear fuel recycling startup called Curio. Now, she’s managing a new fund for Synergos Holdings, the family office of Curio’s founders, Yechezkel and Yehuda Moskowitz. The Synergos fund is an evergreen “continuum” fund that will invest in companies from seed to commercialization stages, Urben told ImpactAlpha. The firm expects to invest $150 million by the end of 2026 in reshoring critical industries, resilient energy solutions, sustainable materials, and “next-generation” agriculture. “We’re building company by company, within the structure of one portfolio, and that is very unique,” said Urben.

Perennial returns. Synergos seeks to invest in companies that have access to non-dilutive government funding, such as grants. The multi-stage model, Urben says, is designed to produce more regular distributions to LPs, including “meaningful distributions in a two- to three-year time frame.” LPs may also direct their invested capital to particular stages, such as seed or growth. The fund has gathered commitments from an initial set of investors and is calling capital for its first investment, a company that helps increase crop yields and save on water usage. The fund has also invested in Curio, a decision Urben said she made independently. The nuclear recycler has bagged nearly $19 million in US government contracts.
LP friendly. With an investment minimum of just $1 million, the fund aims to attract a broad range of family offices and high net-worth individuals. It also aims to address a challenge Urben said she has encountered over three decades in wealth and asset management: “fee issues.” The Synergos fund gives “fee-sensitive” LPs the option to allocate some of their capital to a fixed-income fund that will generate enough income to cover Synergos’s management fees. The fund uses the standard “two and 20” fee structure, but doesn’t bill for custodial, accounting or other services that Urben said can add another four or more percentage points in fees to some funds over the course of an investment. Its fund administrator uses AI to keep costs low, she added.
More.

Blackstone’s Aypa Power secures $535 million in debt for solar-storage project in California. Five years ago, Aypa Power (known then as NRStor C&I) was competing in the commercial and industrial energy storage market in Canada. Blackstone Energy Partners, the alternative asset manager’s energy-focused PE group, acquired the company in March 2020, broadening its focus to utility-scale clean energy + storage assets in North America. The rebranding to Aypa uses the word “earth” in the Quechuan language of the Indigenous people of the Andes to reflect the company’s commitment “to creating a greener, more sustainable planet for generations to come,” the company says. The new financing package for Aypa’s Vidal facility in San Bernardino County, Calif., will support the development of 160 megawatts of solar generation along with 640 megawatt-hours of battery energy storage. The goal: clean energy for California’s grid to support the state’s goal of reaching carbon-free electricity by 2045.

Local benefits. Lenders in the debt round include US Bancorp Impact Finance, Associated Bank, Siemens Financial Services and Zions Bancorporation. The Vidal project, which is expected to come online next year, will generate and store clean electricity for San Diego Community Power under a long-term power purchase agreement. The nonprofit public utility operates as a “community choice aggregator” under a program that allows local governments and communities to purchase competitively priced power. The Vidal project is projected to generate over $13.5 million in local economic benefits and create up to 260 construction jobs in the San Bernardino County region.
Gift this post.

Dealflow overflow. Investment news crossing our desks:

Macquarie Group is acquiring the smart metering business of Spain’s Iberdrola. The deal, subject to approval by the UK’s competition authority, is valued at £900 million ($1.2 billion). (Iberdrola)

French real estate fund manager AMPERE Gestion raised €325 million ($349 million) in a first close for its third intermediate housing fund, which will finance energy efficient, affordable rental housing for young workers and students in French cities. (AMPERE Gestion)
RM Capital Partners acquired Integrated Solar Operations, a provider of solar energy systems to residential, commercial and government customers in Puerto Rico. (RM Capital)
Partners Group will acquire Digital Halo, a Singapore-based developer of data centers, digital infrastructure and renewable energy. (EQS)

Signals: Sovereign Wealth

As both LP and GP, Mubadala builds an AI platform for Abu Dhabi. When President Donald Trump visits Abu Dhabi at the end of his Middle East trip this week, he’ll be looking to attract more of the United Arab Emirates’ capital to the US. One of the biggest sources of capital in the UAE is investing other people’s money as well. With $330 billion in assets and the backing of Abu Dhabi’s government, Mubadala Investment Company is best known for its huge endowment and large private equity and private debt holdings. Now, the state-owned sovereign wealth fund is attracting attention as an asset manager, raising money from other investors who are keen to draft behind Mubadala’s deep investments in artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies. “Most of the time people think of us as capital allocators, but the truth is, in our GP-led businesses – and we have two at the moment – we’re the managers,” Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi, Mubadala’s deputy group CEO, said at the Milken Global Conference in Beverly Hills last week.

Asset management. The headline number in last month’s announcement from TWG Global was the $10 billion investment Mubadala will anchor and syndicate for TWG, the $40 billion holding company that owns Guggenheim Investments and Guggenheim Securities as well as the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Lakers and Chelsea FC. But a good chunk of that money will come back to Mubadala in the form of TWG’s commitment to place $2.5 billion with Mubadala Capital, the group’s alternative asset management arm. TWG also took a minority stake in Mubadala Capital and said it aimed to increase its commitment over time to $20 billion from itself and its partners (see, “Asset managers looking for impact are scooping up ‘GP stakes’ in impact fund managers“). “Partnering with Mubadala Capital enables us to access outstanding investment opportunities that demand both visionary insight and substantial resources,” TWG’s Thomas Tull said at the time.
Data centers. In March, the UAE said it would invest $1.4 trillion in the US over 10 years – in AI, semiconductors, manufacturing and energy – as it diversifies its economy away from oil. Mubadala has been at the center of a series of major AI financing initiatives, including the Global AI Investment Partnership, with Microsoft and BlackRock, which aims to raise $30 billion for AI data centers and infrastructure. Mubadala invested through MGX, the technology investment company Mubadala formed last year with G42, an Emirati holding company. In January, MGX was a partner, alongside OpenAI, SoftBank Group and Oracle, in the $100 billion Stargate venture to finance AI infrastructure. “I think we’re probably the only sovereign investor that has positions, from an LLM perspective in Anthropic and Open AI and xAI,” Al Muhairi said at Milken. Last week, Trump said he would reverse Biden-era limits on exports of advanced AI chips.
More.

Agents of Impact: Follow the Talent

Craig Hunter, previously with Operator Ventures, joins Amplify Capital as partner… Symbiotics appoints Bezant Chongo as CEO of Symbiotics Capacity Building, Symbiotics’ specialized consulting and education group, replacing founding CEO Mariano Larena… Beneficial State Bank welcomes Shamara van der Voort, previously with West Coast Community Bank, as chief operating officer… Housing Partnership Network taps Anthony Scott, formerly with Durham Housing Authority, as vice president of its Tulsa Housing Partnership in Oklahoma.

Water Foundation seeks a chief partnerships officer… US Bancorp is looking for an impact measurement and management manager… Pacific Community Ventures has an opening for a climate lending associate director… New Majority Capital is hiring a business development and lending specialist… Closed Loop Partners is recruiting a portfolio analytics and growth manager… Prime Coalition is on the hunt for a people and culture senior manager.