When it comes to climate tech, building breakthrough solutions is only part of the challenge. The real test is getting those solutions into the market, into supply chains, and into the hands of the people who need them.

In partnership with New Energy Nexus, the TERA-Award is a global competition that identifies and accelerates high-potential climate technologies. With a US$1 million Gold Prize and access to industry applications, funding, and partners across Asia, it helps founders move faster from innovation to real-world impact.

Applications for 2026 are now open. Still deciding? Start by learning what last year’s winners gained from the experience:

Barocal founder and CEO Xavier Moya holds the solid-state refrigerant. Photo from Barocal

1. Barocal

Accessed global markets and partners

For the 2025 Gold Winner, the TERA-Award was more than just its cash prize—it opened doors into the Asian market, one of the most important for energy innovation.

Barocal is rethinking cooling and heating systems using solid-state materials that eliminate harmful refrigerants while improving efficiency and reducing costs.

For its founder, Xavier Moya, the platform’s value was clear.

“It gives us valuable exposure across Asia—a critical market for our cooling and heating technology—and opens doors to a high-quality network of suppliers, partners, and investors.” — Xavier Moya, CEO and founder

For founders looking to expand beyond their home markets, this level of access can define the trajectory of their growth.

Photo from Feon Energy

2. Feon Energy

Built credibility and unlocked new opportunities

The 2025 Silver Winner is advancing battery technology with new electrolytes that improve safety and performance without disrupting existing manufacturing.

Feon Energy’s solution has strong technical potential, but scaling requires trust, visibility, and the right partnerships.

“Winning the TERA-Award will further strengthen our credibility in the Pan-Asia market, opening doors to new partners and giving us a trusted platform to showcase our technology.” — Wenxiao Huang, CEO and co-founder

Recognition at this level signals to investors, corporates, and partners that a solution is ready for serious consideration.

Photo from Syzygy Plasmonics

3. Syzygy Plasmonics

Global exposure

For the 2025 Bronze Winner, the TERA-Award helped accelerate visibility across key markets.

Syzygy Plasmonics’ NovaSAF platform converts biogas into sustainable aviation fuel using light-driven chemical reactions, offering a scalable pathway to decarbonize aviation and waste systems.

“Syzygy has a very innovative solution that needs to be deployed across the globe for maximum impact. We were introduced to a number of high-profile investors and have used the event to grow our exposure across Asia.” — Trevor Best, CEO

For technologies with global relevance, scaling impact depends on reaching the right ecosystems quickly.

Photo from TERA-Award

Why this matters now

In its previous editions, the TERA-Award has attracted over 1,700 startups from 76 countries, reflecting the growing momentum behind climate innovation.

New Energy Nexus has been a long-standing partner, connecting high-potential startups from its global network to the platform. In 2025, all three top winners were part of that pipeline, demonstrating what is possible when entrepreneurs are backed with the right support and connections.

As the clean energy transition accelerates, the gap is no longer just about innovation. It is about execution, partnerships, and speed. Platforms like the TERA-Award help close that gap.

This year, the TERA-Award 2026 is open to innovators building solutions across:

• Green fuels and hydrogen
• Next-generation energy
• Energy storage and conversion
• AI for energy systems
• Energy efficiency and carbon capture
• Smart energy systems

If you are building in these areas, apply today or before April 22, 2026.

Looking for clean energy and climate opportunities in China and beyond? Find them here.

The gap nobody talks about

Here’s a problem that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: a startup has a promising clean energy technology. It works in theory or in the lab. It has credible science behind it. And it has a founder willing to bet years of their life on it. But to get to the next stage — real-world pilot, third-party validation, investor-ready data — they need access to specialized equipment that costs millions of dollars to build and operate.

Most early-stage startups simply cannot afford it.

This is the quiet bottleneck sitting in the middle of the energy transition. Governments invest in basic research. Investors come in once a technology is proven. But the messy, expensive, technically risky middle — the stage where a promising prototype becomes a bankable asset — is where innovation can sometimes go to die. Not because the ideas aren’t good enough. Because the infrastructure to prove them isn’t accessible.

California decided to fix that. What it built is worth understanding — because it works, and because it can be replicated around other parts of the world. Here’s how.

The pipeline that changed the game

The California model runs in two stages, and both matter.

It starts with CalSEED – the California Sustainable Energy Entrepreneur Development Initiative – which, after passing through a due diligence process, provides non-dilutive, non-matching grants to clean energy entrepreneurs at the earliest stage of development, when they have a concept but not yet a prototype. No equity surrendered. No requirement to find private co-investment first. Just capital at the moment when an idea is most fragile and most fundable by nearly nobody else, combined with post-grant guidance and support. CalSEED was deliberately designed to reach the founders that conventional funding filters out – people without investor networks, working on technologies that take years to mature, from communities that have historically been locked out of the innovation economy.

The pipeline leads to CalTestBed: a voucher program that gives clean energy entrepreneurs up to US$300,000 worth of vouchers to access world-class testing facilities at University of California campuses and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at no cost to them. No equity. No matched funding. No IP claims. Just access to the equipment and expertise needed to turn a working prototype into something an investor can actually underwrite.

The jump in Technology Readiness Level – the internationally recognized scale from basic concept (TRL 1) to full commercial deployment (TRL 9) – that companies make through CalTestBed averages 1.6 levels. That doesn’t sound like much until you understand what it means in practice: the difference between a technology that sits in a drawer and one that lands a strategic partner, a major funding round, or a commercial contract.

Since CalTestBed launched in 2019, the 64 companies it has supported have collectively raised an estimated US$438 million in follow-on private investment – from US$16.5 million in testing vouchers. And it started because government was willing to be the first risk-taker in the room, so that other capital could follow with confidence.

Both programs are funded through EPIC – the California Energy Commission’s ratepayer-funded R&D initiative, built on a simple public compact: utility customers invest in the innovations that will ultimately make their energy cheaper, cleaner, and more reliable. It is public money deployed at the stages where private capital won’t go, in service of outcomes the market alone won’t deliver.

What this looks like for a real company

Coreshell Technologies is the story of the right support arriving at the right moment.

Jonathan Tan spent a decade commercializing membrane technology for industrial applications before co-founding Coreshell in 2017 around a deceptively simple problem: every time you charge a rechargeable battery, a little bit of it dies. That gradual capacity fade is one of the core barriers to affordable, long-lasting batteries for electric vehicles and grid storage – and it was a problem nobody had solved at scale. Coreshell’s answer was a nanolayer coating applied to the inside surface of battery electrodes, preventing degradation without requiring manufacturers to change their existing production lines.

CalSEED was one of Coreshell’s very first backers. That early, non-dilutive support gave Jonathan and his team the runway to develop their concept without giving up equity, IP, or spending the company’s early months chasing investors rather than doing science. From CalSEED, they moved into CalTestBed: accessing UCLA facilities and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory simulation tools that would otherwise have been far beyond their budget.

Coreshell has since raised close to US$40 million, including a US$24 million strategic round in March 2025. They won the Startup World Cup’s US$1 million grand prize. They are now delivering commercial battery samples to global automakers from a manufacturing facility in San Leandro, California. The California Energy Commission and New Energy Nexus California were among their earliest supporters. The market came in once the science was proven.

That is what the pipeline is designed to produce. And Coreshell is not an exception; it is a representative example of what happens when you remove the access barrier at the right moment.

Gridware is another. The company came into CalTestBed (and later CalSEED) with technology that monitors electricity distribution lines in real time, catching faults before they cause outages or wildfires. After testing through the program, Gridware’s Gridscope technology was integrated by S&C Electric into a grid-resilience product now being deployed by utilities across the US. The CalTestBed validation gave a major industrial partner the confidence to build Gridware’s technology into their own product. That kind of outcome — a startup’s technology embedded in an industry leader’s commercial offering — is extraordinarily difficult to achieve without the credibility that independent, third-party testing provides.

Why most countries don’t have this

The underlying logic of CalTestBed is simple: the infrastructure already exists. Universities and national laboratories have some of the most sophisticated research equipment in the world. But it was built for academic research, and most of it remains largely inaccessible to the startups that need it most.

The reason most countries don’t have a program like this isn’t lack of will. It’s a default assumption baked into most public funding design: that government should wait for private capital to show up first, and only then provide support. Match requirements, co-investment conditions, milestone-based tranches – all of them are designed to reduce government risk by making sure someone else has already committed. The effect is to make government funding available only to the companies that often least need it: those that already have networks, credibility, and backing.

California inverted that logic. Government goes first. It backs the science before the market will. And in doing so, it creates the conditions for the market to follow – at scale, and with confidence. The return, across CalTestBed alone, has been roughly US$26 in private investment for every public dollar in vouchers – or to put it another way, US$438 million in follow-on funding from US$16.5 million in public vouchers.

That model is not California-specific. It is replicable anywhere with research infrastructure, early-stage startups, and a government willing to act as a first mover rather than a last resort.

Australia is where we’re starting to expand

Australia has committed over AU$70 billion to decarbonising Australia’s economy over the coming decades. It has world-class universities, abundant critical minerals, a strong engineering tradition, and a generation of clean energy entrepreneurs who are ready to build. What it has lacked is a reliable,  structured, funded pathway to turn early-stage innovation into investment-ready technology – the same gap the California pipeline was built to close.

The problem is structural. Australian early-stage grant funding programs almost universally require matched private investment, which creates exactly the barrier that California removed. The Investor Group on Climate Change has put a number on the consequence: 61% of institutional investors cite a lack of investment-ready opportunities as their reason for staying on the sidelines. The capital is there. The ambition is there. The pipeline between them is not.

AusTestBed is our response to that. 

Modeled directly on CalTestBed, it will give Australian clean energy startups non-matching vouchers to test their prototypes at Australian universities and research institutions: the same model, the same logic, applied to Australian infrastructure and Australian founders. The pilot program, supported with seed funding from Boundless Earth, will see three battery and energy storage startups — Powerblocks, Adoxima, and Carbophite — each receive AUD$50,000 to begin testing at Australian facilities.

But testing is only half the pipeline. AusSEED — modeled on CalSEED — is the next piece: non-dilutive, non-matching concept grants for Australian founders at the very earliest stage, building the pipeline that feeds into AusTestBed. Together, they would give Australia what California spent years building: a coherent, no-match, equity-free pathway from first concept to investor-ready asset.

The AusTestBed pilot launched at Sydney Climate Action Week 2026, with California Energy Commission Chair David Hochschild — under whose leadership CalSEED and CalTestBed were funded and scaled — in Sydney for the occasion. His presence reflects something important: this isn’t a theory being imported from abroad. It is a proven model, with five years of data behind it, being deliberately adapted for Australian conditions by the people who built the original.

We are working with EnergyLab to grow AusTestBed and potentially AusSEED into national programs, universities, and state and federal governments. Initial testbed partners include TRaCE (a partnership between UNSW and the University of Newcastle), which will provide access to testbed facilities, alongside the University of Melbourne.

We believe the model has potential beyond Australia too: there are markets across the Asia-Pacific and beyond where the same pipeline problem exists and the same solution could take root. But that ambition starts here, with this pilot, and with the question of whether Australia is ready to back its founders the way California backed its own.

We think the answer is yes. And we believe the returns — for founders, for investors, for the energy transition — will speak for themselves.

To learn more about AusTestBed, AusSEED, or the testbed model, contact kirk.mcdonald@newenergynexus.com.

Maryam, Founder of CV Cahaya Inklusi

Maryam | Photo by: Jefri Tarigan

Within Indonesia’s social landscape, I see gender, disability, and environmental issues often appear side by side, yet they are still frequently treated as separate challenges. For me, and for many women with disabilities living in rural areas such as Wonosobo, Central Java, these three issues are deeply interconnected and form very real structural inequalities. As national development continues to accelerate, my lived experience shows that not all citizens are moving forward at the same pace.

Data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS) shows that there are approximately 22.97 million persons with disabilities in Indonesia, or about 8.5 percent of the total population. However, this figure is not matched by the fulfillment of basic rights. Based on my experience and observation, access to education, employment, and social participation remains very limited. Only around 2.8 percent of persons with disabilities complete higher education, while participation in the labour market is also low. Many survive in the informal sector without social protection, and nearly 90 percent are not recorded as part of the active workforce. These statistics are not merely numbers. They represent the daily realities faced by me and my community.

This situation remains far from the country’s commitments. Law Number 8 of 2016 on Persons with Disabilities clearly positions the state as the primary entity responsible for fulfilling our rights, including the rights to education, employment, and accessibility. Articles 18 and 19 guarantee equal accessibility and public services. Yet, based on my experience, the implementation of these policies has barely been felt, especially at the local level.

I have experienced these gaps firsthand. I have encountered government buildings without ramps, public transportation that is inaccessible to persons with disabilities, and service facilities that do not consider diverse user needs. Even for basic administrative matters, I often had to rely on assistance from others due to the absence of fundamental access. These experiences made me realize that public infrastructure development still lacks an inclusive perspective.

This awareness encouraged me to join the Indonesian Women with Disabilities Association (HWDI) in 2017. There, I found a space to share experiences and collectively advocate for our rights. Many women with disabilities grow up in environments that limit their life choices, including access to education and skills development. I witnessed how available options were often narrowly directed based solely on physical conditions, rather than on individual potential and aspirations.

Maryam and her team. Photo by: Jefri Tarigan

Together with the organization, I began engaging in more systematic advocacy. We held consultations with various local government agencies, participated in public consultation forums, and directly conveyed the urgency of inclusive infrastructure development. In 2017, out of dozens of public service buildings in our region, only a small portion had disability-friendly facilities, and many of them still failed to meet technical standards. I personally observed how facilities were built merely to fulfill administrative obligations, without considering safety or ease of use. In fact, Minister of Public Works and Housing Regulation Number 14/PRT/M/2017 has clearly outlined accessibility standards for persons with disabilities.

Change began to emerge when disability groups were more actively involved in policymaking processes. In 2023, through an Indonesia–Australia partnership program focused on inclusive infrastructure, I was directly involved in developing procedures for inspecting public service buildings. For the first time, the perspective of persons with disabilities became part of the recommendations for issuing Certificates of Feasible Building Function.

Building on these experiences, the initiative to establish CV Cahaya Inklusi emerged in September 2023. Through CV Cahaya Inklusi, we conducted assessments of 42 public service buildings and found that around 80 percent did not meet accessibility standards. For me, these findings confirm that infrastructure development still requires fundamental correction to truly achieve fairness.

From this assessment process, an innovation in portable ramps was developed, designed based on direct user experience. This innovation not only addresses accessibility challenges, but also opened my awareness to the connection between disability and environmental issues. In rural areas, I observed that wood waste from cooking activities is often discarded into rivers, polluting the environment. We then processed this waste into low-emission materials for portable ramps, creating dual benefits: improved accessibility and reduced environmental impact.

This approach aligns with the direction of national development policies. The National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2020–2024 emphasizes inclusive and sustainable development, as well as strengthening community participation in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly in reducing inequality and addressing climate change. Beyond improving accessibility and environmental protection, this waste processing initiative also generates economic value for rural households. Waste that previously held no value now becomes an additional source of income and encourages behavioural change in environmental management.

My experience in Wonosobo shows that solutions to disability and environmental challenges do not always depend on large-scale projects. Policy commitment, consistency in implementation, and partnerships with local communities are key factors. Local governments that create participatory spaces and involve persons with disabilities in assessment processes provide good practices that should be replicated. Approaches like this deserve greater attention and should be mainstreamed in many other regions.

Future challenges are likely to grow as budget efficiency policies are implemented by both central and local governments. From my observation, under fiscal pressure, support for community initiatives and civil society organizations tends to shrink. Meanwhile, the RPJMN explicitly emphasizes the importance of multi-stakeholder collaboration. Budget efficiency must therefore prioritize collaborative strategies so that inclusion initiatives that have been gradually built can grow stronger.

For me, this experience reinforces that inclusion cannot stop at the level of regulation. It requires sustained policy commitment, serious implementation, and recognition that citizens, including vulnerable groups, are partners in development. Mainstreaming the perspectives of women and persons with disabilities is essential in development planning and implementation, so that social justice, as mandated by the Constitution, can be fully realized down to the local level.

CV Cahaya Inklusi is one of the startups nurtured through the KINETIK NEX program. KINETIK NEX is an initiative implemented by New Energy Nexus in collaboration with KINETIK, the Australia–Indonesia Climate, Renewable Energy, and Infrastructure Partnership, a flagship program aimed at fostering Indonesia’s green economy and accelerating the energy transition.

KINETIK NEX promotes inclusive growth by supporting clean energy and climate technology startups in Indonesia. It is designed to empower local innovators, create green jobs, and deliver climate solutions beyond major urban centers, supporting bold ideas for a prosperous Indonesia and a sustainable planet.

Published on: Media Indonesia E-paper, IDN Times, and Harian Fajar

Five journalists from across Indonesia have been recognised for their reporting on green entrepreneurship and climate innovation through the KINETIK NEX Media Awards, announced on National Press Day on February 9, 2026. Each winner received an award and a prize of IDR 5 million in recognition of their contributions to advancing public understanding of clean energy and climate solutions.

The winning journalists are:

Highlighting solutions through journalism

The five winners were selected from a group of 15 journalists who participated in the KINETIK NEX journalist training program. The training introduced solutions journalism approaches that highlight how local climate and energy startups contribute to Indonesia’s just energy transition. As part of the program, each journalist was paired with a startup from the KINETIK NEX Entrepreneurs’ Program. They conducted in-depth interviews with founders to explore their challenges, breakthroughs, community impact, and potential for scale.

Tahnia Allauddin, Second Secretary Climate and Infrastructure at the Australian Embassy, said she was pleased to celebrate quality journalism that contributed to public awareness of renewable energy, climate action and inclusive economic development. “These issues are all very close to our hearts in the KINETIK partnership, which is the Australia-Indonesia Climate, Renewable Energy and Infrastructure Partnership,” she said.

“KINETIK is … investing in Indonesian businesses that focus on clean energy and climate change and also supporting earlier stage climate startups that are championing local solutions for the challenges that are brought by climate change.”

Stories that go beyond technical narratives

Journalist and editor at IDN Times, Dhana Kencana, one of the competition judges, said the evaluation focused on depth of reporting, clarity of storytelling, originality, accuracy, use of data, and potential impact on public understanding.

“These five best works did more than meet journalistic standards. They found the ‘soul’ behind the technical issues of clean energy and climate,” Dhana said. He noted that the winning stories captured a wide range of climate and development challenges, including energy access in frontier and disadvantaged regions, biodiversity opportunities, grassroots circular economy practices, and the resilience of young innovators.

According to Dhana, the winning stories demonstrate that climate and clean energy topics can resonate strongly with public audiences. “In their hands, these issues became stories about hope, solutions to poverty, business opportunities, and food sovereignty,” he said.

Exploring climate innovation through field reporting

One of the winners, Meidella Syahni from Mongabay Indonesia, said she joined the training to strengthen her reporting approach by incorporating solutions-focused perspectives. “I’ve been writing environmental stories since 2017, and many of them focus on recurring environmental problems,” Della said.

Through the program, she profiled Algatech Nusantara, a company researching microalgae as a carbon capture solution with potential applications in food and energy. “They have been working on this research since the 1980s, and the potential is enormous. But they still face limited support,” she said. “Through this article, I hope more people become aware of their work and support their development.”

Youth innovation driving the energy transition

Another award recipient, Lilik Darmawan from Media Indonesia, highlighted STB Pellet, a startup founded by university students in Madiun, East Java, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The startup converts agricultural and industrial waste into biomass pellets as an alternative fuel to coal.

Lilik said the idea was inspired by a landfill fire incident that prompted the students to rethink waste. “They asked a simple but powerful question: if waste can burn, why can’t it be transformed into fuel?” he said. He added that his story emphasised the role of youth-driven initiatives in advancing Indonesia’s energy transition.

The role of journalism in driving public understanding

KINETIK Director John Brownlee said journalism could help people have a clearer picture of what initiatives to tackle climate change and support a just green transition are all about. Stories like these show that despite challenges, positive change is possible. “Stories like these genuinely show that this is something important. That change can happen not just from high level policies and in large businesses, but can also grow from the grassroots.”

Roha Rehan presents her paper on PakPlug at the 2025 IEEE Transportaton Electrification Conference and Expo, Asia-Pacific (ITEC-AP) in Singapore.

Could the “Airbnb” of charging stations be the key to unlock an EV revolution?

Electric vehicles (EVs) in Pakistan are more than just a passing fad. The stage is set for explosive growth, with an ambitious aim of 30% of new vehicles sold by 2030 being EVs, and Chinese EV giant BYD building a manufacturing plant in Karachi to produce 25,000 vehicles annually starting this year.

But is the infrastructure in place to support such a rapid boom? After all, EV charging stations are about to become as huge a commodity as gas stations.

This is where clean energy entrepreneurs like Roha Rehan, a recent electrical engineering graduate from Lahore, come in. Roha’s business, PakPlug, wants to be the “Airbnb” of EV charging stations for Pakistan’s growing EV market.

The spark

Roha’s journey starts at home.

She said her father, an electrical engineer himself, is very “into EVs.” Her family started with hybrid cars in 2012 and has exclusively driven EVs since 2023. While it has helped them cut fuel costs, it wasn’t all smooth driving.

“When we have to travel from Lahore to any other city, we really need to borrow a car from somebody else, because we don’t know if we can locate chargers for our electric car,” Roha said.

She and co-founder Hammad Javaid found that even if charging stations were in an area, a local would have a hard time finding them, as they’re not being marketed properly nor geotagged. That led to the development of PakPlug—an app where anyone can find a place to recharge their vehicles in Pakistan.

The PakPlug app.

Here’s how it works: People who own an EV charger at home or at an establishment can add it to PakPlug’s system. Users can then find this charging station through the app, and the owner will be able to charge a fee for renting it out.

As a plus for the energy transition, 85% of EV charging stations currently in PakPlug’s systems use solar energy, keeping in pace with Pakistan’s solar boom.

Speed bumps

Currently pre-launch, the app is still going through growing pains. Onboarding customers, ensuring the security of people lending chargers at home, and deciding a price point for renting—these are a few of the barriers for customers and owners, which the team is actively solving.

For example, Roha says they’ve recommended that owners only install their chargers near their gate, so they run a wire into the driveway, and customers don’t have to go inside the home. They’re also testing dynamic pricing, where people can charge more if they own other facilities like restaurants beside their charging station, as it means drivers have something to do while recharging.

Aside from app development, being a woman in STEM comes with its own set of challenges. Roha shared that even in university, her electrical engineering classes had a ratio of 40 men to nine women, and doubts in her abilities continued after graduating.

“When I started this startup, a lot of people had questions like, ‘do you know how EVs charge?’ ‘Do you know this and that?’ And I was like, yes, that’s literally my degree,” Roha said. “People tend to think that women aren’t able to do much in a startup ecosystem, and that they will always need some backing.”

Roha Rehan presents at the National Incubation Center Lahore in 2025.

Despite these, Roha has gotten a lot of encouragement from the field. But to break out into the market and scale fast in Pakistan’s changing EV landscape, she saw the need for stronger, more tailored support.

Revving up

Enter Climate Innovation Pakistan (CLIP), a collaboration between New Energy Nexus and Renewables First. Roha was selected for the first cohort of the CLIP Incubator: a 12-week, equity-free program helping entrepreneurs validate products, run pilots, refine business models, and connect with investors and partners across Pakistan.

“I was also incubated somewhere else before, but those were for a wide range of startups. There wasn’t any direct climate-related guidance,” Roha said. “As we discussed in one of our last sessions [in the CLIP incubator], it’s really hard for climate startups to get initial funding, because their impact is going to be long-term and you can only project numbers for the future.”

As she expected, Roha is picking up a lot from sessions dedicated to climate and clean energy solutions like hers, such as emissions impact analysis and what climate investors look for in pitch decks. She’s also getting mentored by Shah Talha Sohail, CEO & Co-founder of Pakistani EV startup Mode Mobility, as part of the program.

“The mentorship sessions that I’m having with Talha are also great, because he’s been working in the startup ecosystem for a while now and he’s really willing to help us out wherever possible,” Roha said. “He even told us that he’ll help us set up our initial grant phase, where we can start applying to grants, if not proper investments, for now.”

The road ahead

As they get PakPlug ready for launch, Roha shared big plans for the app. They’ve set an initial goal of 200 customers in the first three months post-launch. They are also developing a smart switch for EV charger owners, which would track electricity usage and inform changes in pricing.

The team also envisions partnering with the national government and taking on a bigger role in the country’s energy transition.

“So, in the future, when I’m traveling from Lahore to Islamabad, I want to say ‘I don’t have to borrow somebody else’s petrol car and add to the emissions,’” Roha said. “‘I can use my electric car to travel, and I can easily locate chargers as well.’”

Roha Rehan presents an event on addressing e-mobility challenges in Pakistan.

Her advice to fellow young entrepreneurs and women in STEM venturing into clean energy?

“I think for someone young, I would say that startups don’t happen overnight. It takes a lot of time and a lot of patience. So if you come up with an idea, you shouldn’t just give up because it’s not happening right now,” Roha said.

“And for women, it doesn’t matter how big or small the idea is, and you shouldn’t let people tell you otherwise… You don’t particularly need to have a co-founder that’s a man who knows all this stuff. You can figure it out on your own.”

If you’re a founder like Roha looking to scale your climate solution, in Pakistan and beyond, check out how we can support you here.

The NEX Bridge Unveiling Ceremony at Zhangjiang Science Gate, Shanghai, China.

Over two days, New Energy Nexus and the Lujiazui Group brought 100 founders, investors, suppliers, and ecosystem partners together in Shanghai to explore one practical question: how can climate solutions move faster across borders?

The challenge isn’t technology. Instead, it’s about deploying clean energy solutions fast enough around the world. To do that, we need trust, partnerships, and pathways that turn manufacturing strength into global impact.

That’s NEX Bridge’s mission: a new initiative that connects China’s clean energy suppliers and global markets. The program provides an incubator space in Zhangjiang, alongside training, events, industry exchanges, and technology demonstrations to help companies scale and reach international opportunities.

Here are five key takeaways from the launch that highlight how NEX Bridge is turning connections into action.

Andrew Chang, CEO of New Energy Nexus.

1. Market access is the new climate lever.

For many startups, the problem isn’t building great technology. It’s getting it out to the world. NEX Bridge positions China not just as a manufacturing hub, but as a launchpad for global expansion, while giving international founders a front-row seat to what’s possible here.

“We’re incredibly excited because this is a fantastic opportunity, not only for startups to be able to go out to the world… but also for other startups to be able to see what’s happening within the Chinese market, in this clean energy powerhouse.” — Andrew Chang, CEO, New Energy Nexus

When suppliers and startups share the same room, deals happen faster. Pilots happen sooner. Markets open.

Puon Penn, CEO and Managing Partner of New Energy Nexus Ventures, and David Fishman, Principal at The Lantau Group, during the tour of the NIO House Experience Center.

2. Seeing solutions in person changes everything.

Slides and Zoom calls can only go so far. Walking factory floors, testing vehicles, and meeting founders face-to-face turns abstract ideas into tangible opportunities.

That was clear during visits to the NIO House Experience Center and the GCL Perovskite Facility, where guests saw battery swapping in action and next-generation solar manufacturing at scale.

“Seeing is really believing… having entrepreneurs meet with each other to really witness with their own eyes the solution that’s possible is key for their success.” — Puon Penn, Managing Partner, New Energy Nexus

Trust grows faster when you know how the technology works in reality.

Kirk McDonald, Project Manager – Supercharge Australia at New Energy Nexus, presents during the Unveiling Ceremony.

3. China’s speed moves the rest of the world faster.

From Southeast Asia to Australia, partners shared the same reality: climate impacts are accelerating, and deployment must match that urgency.

China’s production capacity offers a rare advantage. The challenge now is moving solutions across borders quickly and responsibly.

“China has a huge advantage in the production capacity of renewable energy technologies. The world desperately needs them… and we need to get more of them out of the country as quickly as possible.” — Kirk McDonald, Project Director, Supercharge Australia

Bridging supply with demand isn’t just good business. It’s a climate necessity.

David Fishman, Principal of The Lantau Group, presents at the Unveiling Ceremony.

4. The next wave of innovation is about flexibility.

As grids add more renewables, the opportunities shift. It’s not only about generating clean power, but storing it, moving it, and using it smarter.

Entrepreneurs working on storage, demand response, and intelligent energy management will play an outsized role in what comes next.

“Anything that contributes to flexibility should continue to be an extremely important and hot area for innovation.” — David Fishman, Principal, The Lantau Group

In other words, the future grid needs as much brains as hardware.

Tour of the GCL Perovskite Facility.

5. Ecosystems beat isolated wins.

No single company can solve climate change alone. What works is a system: incubators, capital, partners, policymakers, and entrepreneurs moving together.

NEX Bridge is designed as that connective tissue, combining workspace, demonstrations, training, and dealmaking under one roof in Zhangjiang.

“One of the most exciting things about Nex Bridge is that we’re bringing a holistic platform together… an incubator space, a demonstration area, expo… workshops and trainings to support clean energy suppliers in China to be able to go to global markets.” — Andrew Chang, CEO, New Energy Nexus

It’s not just a place to meet. It’s a place to move from idea to deployment.

The NEX Bridge Unveiling Ceremony at Zhangjiang Science Gate, Shanghai, China.

From Shanghai to the world

Clean energy isn’t only about building hardware and generating megawatts. It’s about trusting partners across borders and collaborating to make the clean energy shift happen—the fastest way possible.

At New Energy Nexus, this is how we work everywhere we operate: building ecosystems that help entrepreneurs scale across borders. In China and across 13 more countries, we connect founders with the training, capital, partners, and markets they need to grow.

Want to break down walls and build bridges with us? Take the next big step for your clean energy or climate startup: Check out programs and opportunities from our global network here.

For many early-stage startups, being “investor-ready” is often interpreted as having a polished pitch deck. In reality, investor readiness goes much deeper. It reflects how clearly founders understand their business, how prepared they are to share evidence behind their claims, and how confidently they can navigate fundraising conversations over time.

These themes were explored in an online expert learning session led by Puon Penn, CEO and Managing Partner of New Energy Nexus Ventures, as part of the She Wins Climate Southeast Asia Accelerator. Here are six key insights coming out of the session:

1.Valuation is a negotiation

One of the strongest messages from the session addressed a common misconception among early-stage founders.

“Valuation is a negotiation, not a calculation.”

At the early stage, valuation is rarely driven by complex financial models. Instead, investors look at the overall opportunity, the urgency of the problem being solved, the credibility of the team, and early market signals. Revenue projections matter, but they are only one part of the conversation.

Understanding valuation as a negotiation helps founders focus less on finding a “perfect number” and more on clearly communicating why their startup is worth backing.

2.Investor readiness starts before the fundraise

Investor readiness is not something to prepare only when fundraising begins. It should be built early, alongside product development and market validation.

Investors look for consistency. They pay attention to how founders explain their problem, articulate their solution, and describe their progress over time. Startups that treat fundraising as a process rather than an event are better positioned to respond to questions, requests, and due diligence when they arise.

Being “ready” means knowing your numbers, your assumptions, and your story, and being able to explain them clearly without overpromising.

3.Prepare for due diligence early

Due diligence is often perceived as something that happens after an investor shows a strong interest. In reality, it can begin informally much earlier through conversations, follow-up questions, and data requests.

Puon highlighted that prolonged due diligence with unclear timelines is a common challenge for startups. Founders were encouraged to prepare basic documentation early and to approach due diligence as a two-way process.

Clear communication, defined timelines, and aligned expectations can help founders protect their time and maintain momentum during fundraising.

4.Knowing what investors look for

Investors are not only evaluating the business. They are also evaluating how founders think, respond, and make decisions.

Investors pay attention to:

• How founders handle difficult questions
• Whether assumptions are grounded in evidence
• How risks are acknowledged and managed
• How open founders are to learning and iteration

Being investor-ready means being honest about what you know, what you do not know, and how you plan to learn.

5.Fundraising is a strategic process
Rather than approaching fundraising as a short-term goal, Puon encouraged founders to see it as a strategic process. This includes choosing the right investors, understanding alignment beyond capital, and being thoughtful about timing.

Not every “yes” is the right yes. Fit matters, especially at the early stage, when investors often play an active role in shaping a startup’s direction.

6.Building confidence through preparation
Ultimately, the session reinforced that confidence in fundraising does not come from memorizing a pitch. It comes from preparation, clarity, and experience.

Startups that invest time in understanding their business, their market, and their fundraising strategy are better equipped to navigate investor conversations with intention rather than pressure.

After all, investor readiness is not about being perfect. It is about being prepared.

Supporting women-led climate startups

This expert sharing session is part of the She Wins Climate Southeast Asia Accelerator, initiated by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and supported by the Government of Canada and the Government of Australia.

The program supports women-led climate startups across Southeast Asia with investment readiness, go-to-market capability, and access to regional and global networks.