Swiss impact investor responsAbility Investments AG is investing up to $15 million in structured financing in August Energy, a Singapore-headquartered Energy-as-a-Service (EaaS) platform, according to an announcement.
The investment forms part of the firm’s $500 million climate investment strategy for Asia, which aims to scale private-sector infrastructure contributing to measurable carbon emissions reduction across high-growth markets in the region.
responsAbility, which has offices in Thailand, India, and the Philippines, said the investment will support the expansion of August Energy’s decentralised renewable energy projects in India.
August Energy is a developer and manager of distributed energy infrastructure for commercial and industrial clients in India and Southeast Asia.
Its portfolio includes rooftop solar installations and integrated utility services such as cooling- and steam-as-a-service. The company targets sectors ranging from manufacturing and automotive to pharmaceuticals, FMCG, healthcare, and data centres.
The company is backed by institutional investors such as Asia-Pacific Sustainable & Decarbonisation Infrastructure Equity, LP (SDIEF), a fund supported by Aravest and SMBC Group, as well as Green Tower, an investment vehicle established by Green Giraffe and Daiwa Securities.
responsAbility said the funding will enable August Energy to accelerate its project pipeline, aiming to expand its installed capacity in India to over one gigawatt within five years, per the announcement.
That growth would support India’s national target of 500 gigawatts in renewable capacity and contribute to global net-zero goals.
“This first structured financing, delivered in partnership with responsAbility, marks a key milestone for our business. The facility gives us flexibility to execute on our growing project pipeline in India over the next 12 months,” said August Energy CIFO Michael Brown.
responsAbility’s Head of Climate Infrastructure Investments for Asia-Pacific, Sameer Tirkar, said August Energy’s decentralised solutions fit the fund’s strategy to back scalable private infrastructure with strong regional execution capacity.
“The investment aligns with our strategy to back scalable private-sector infrastructure that drives emissions reduction,” Tirkar said.
responsAbility is looking to allocate as much as $180 million annually into South and Southeast Asia’s climate tech sector for the next three to four years, through credit-focused strategies from its climate funds, its head of climate infrastructure investments, APAC, had told DealStreetAsia recently.
The firm has so far secured $350 million in commitments for its Asia climate strategy in its third close recently, and has deployed about 40% of that capital.
Early this month, the Zurich-based impact asset manager committed a $23 million debt facility, with an eight-year tenure, to Singapore-based waste-to-biogas firm KIS Group.
