Lightsmith Group Closes Inaugural $186 Million Growth Equity Climate Fund

Lightsmith Group, a global sustainable private equity firm, is pleased to announce the final closing of Lightsmith Climate Resilience Partners SCSp RAIF with $186 million of commitments.

Lightsmith Climate Resilience is the first private equity fund to have focused on climate resilience and adaptation, investing in growth-stage technology companies that address the effects of climate change.

In the Fund, Lightsmith has brought together leading investors from around the world, including PNC Insurance Group, The Rockefeller Foundation, Kinneret Group, and Caprock Impact Partners, as well as the Green Climate Fund, European Investment Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, KfW on behalf of the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Nordic Development Fund, the Government of Luxembourg and other investors.

Lightsmith’s two founding partners, Jay Koh and Sanjay Wagle, each have over 20 years of experience in direct investing at The Carlyle Group and VantagePoint Capital Partners as well as at US Development Finance Corporation (DFC), International Finance Corporation (IFC), US Department of Energy, and New York Green Bank.

Lightsmith’s global investment team draws from experience at Goldman Sachs, True North Partners, Baring Private Equity Asia, IFC, and US DFC. Richard Kauffman, the Former Chairman of Energy and Finance for New York State, serves as Chairman of the investment committee for Lightsmith Climate Resilience.

Lightsmith Climate Resilience invests in growth-stage companies whose technologies can address the growing physical impacts of climate change, which represents an estimated total addressable market of over $170 billion.

Climate Policy Initiative (CPI) has concluded that Lightsmith Climate Resilience is the first private equity fund focused on climate resilience, and reported that until now, less than $500 million per year of private investment has targeted climate change adaptation.

“Lightsmith Climate Resilience is the first private equity fund to focus on investing in solutions to the effects of climate change,” said Kauffman. “Lightsmith has brought together a team with a unique combination of experience in direct investment and climate change and has secured the commitment of leading global investors to invest in climate resilience.”

“Climate resilience technologies are an overlooked, multi-billion dollar investment opportunity that will just keep growing,” said Koh. “Increasing drought, agriculture stress, and supply chain disruption linked to climate change will drive demand for data and analytics to understand those risks and for the solutions to manage them.”

“As investors, we know very little about the future with any certainty. One thing we do know is that companies that have smart solutions to respond to climate change will be increasingly in demand. Investing in climate resilience solutions can deliver both financial returns and real benefits to companies, communities, and individuals,” said Wagle. “Climate resilience technology is an opportunity for investors and for us all.”