![]() Lightsmith Climate Resilience is focusing on six initial technology areas: water efficiency and smart water management, resilient food systems, agricultural analytics, geospatial intelligence, supply chain analytics, and catastrophe risk modeling and risk transfer. 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 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 today. 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’s global investment team draws from experience at Goldman Sachs, True North Partners, Baring Private Equity Asia, IFC, and US DFC. 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. 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 (“GCF”), 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 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. Sanjay holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley.NEW YORK-( BUSINESS WIRE)-Lightsmith Group (“Lightsmith”), a global sustainable private equity firm, is pleased to announce the final closing of Lightsmith Climate Resilience Partners SCSp RAIF (“Lightsmith Climate Resilience” or the “Fund”) with $186 million of commitments. Sanjay also helped in the formation of DOE’s advanced research agency ( ARPA-E) and served as the agency’s first Associate Director for Commercialization, founding and running a “technology-to- market” program to commercialize high-risk, high reward energy technologies funded by the agency. Department of Energy ( DOE), overseeing the implementation of $15 billion in programs for clean energy and climate, including investments in renewable energy, electric vehicles, battery manufacturing, industrial efficiency, and biofuels. In the first three years of the Obama Administration, Sanjay served as a senior official at the U.S. Sanjay has served in senior executive roles with several sustainable technology companies, including: Diamond Foundry, a technology company making flawless, jewelry-grade diamonds in an ethical and sustainable manner Ubiquiti Networks (Nasdaq: UBNT), a publicly listed global technology company where he co-led the launch of a new worldwide solar business Soligent, the largest US solar distributor with over $200 million in revenues, where he led the acquisition and integration of Soligent’s #2 competitor and TerraVia (Nasdaq: TVIA), a biotechnology company converting plant-based feedstocks into tailored, high-value food oils. Earlier in his career, Sanjay served as an Investment Officer at the International Finance Corporation, where he led financings of private sector transport, power, and water infrastructure projects in developing countries. ![]() He was the first Principal in the CleanTech Group at VantagePoint Capital Partners, which invested over $1 billion in 25 companies in electric vehicles (most notably Tesla Motors), solar, storage, smart grid, green building, water, and sustainable agriculture. Sanjay’s investing experience includes eight years in venture capital and growth equity. He has over 20 years of experience in investing, company management, and government focused on clean energy, resources, and climate. Sanjay Wagle is co-founder and Managing Director of The Lightsmith Group.
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