Temasek Foundation and Touchstone Launches Competition for Climate Change Combating Startups

On Aug 21, a new global startup competition was launched in Vietnam, aimed at those with early-stage climate technology projects who want to pilot their solutions in the South-east Asian country. They will compete in the Net Zero Challenge for a share of the equity-free prize money of 15 billion Vietnamese dong (S$854,800). The competition's inaugural edition is organised in collaboration with the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies by Singapore's Temasek Foundation and Vietnamese venture capital firm Touchstone Partners.

The competition's main investor partners are Singapore-based Pavilion Capital and Indonesia-focused East Ventures.

At the competition's launch event in Ho Chi Minh City, Temasek Foundation's head of programmes Lim Hock Chuan stated that the competition will be a "valuable launchpad" for emerging climate solutions due to Vietnam's "vast resources of human, social, and innovation capital."

"(While) there are a lot of very good innovations from Vietnam that will solve problems that are unique to Vietnam, we are also inviting solutions from the region and from all over the world," he said.

Temasek Foundation is the philanthropic arm of Temasek Holdings, a Singapore investment firm. Aside from Vietnam, the foundation has held similar climate-focused competitions in Singapore and Indonesia, providing recipients with grants and support as they scale their solutions for full commercialization.