Green business accelerator helps strengthen resilient communities in Colombia

Precision technologies to monitor water and soil conditions will soon be accessible to Colombians hoping to adopt climate-smart farming and water management practices. These technologies are being brought to the local market by Lynks and Fluvia, which represent just two of the start-ups growing in Colombia’s climate adaptation economy, thanks to green business accelerator CleantechHUB. 

CleantechHUB’s National Lead in Colombia, Gideon Blaauw, says the organization’s main goal is to foster climate entrepreneurship, which means helping start-ups that want to make a positive environmental impact. 

​While the start-up Fluvia offers chemical tracers, equipment and an app that allows customers, especially farmers, to monitor water quality in rivers and dams in real-time, Lynks offers a platform – known as LYNKBOX – that enables one to fine-tune farm irrigation systems by live-tracking parameters like water flow rates, temperature and humidity. 

Blaauw explains that his team works with start-ups and various stages of development. From the moment an entrepreneur conceives a green business idea to the critical stages of raising capital and scaling up operations, CleantechHUB is there as a dedicated partner.  

Their approach is not one of "top-down" instruction, but rather one of collaboration and facilitation. 

"We train them in capacity building. Then after the training, we try to help connect them to their markets, to a potential buyer of the products, or to the capital markets”, said Blaauw, adding that the organization has an international team, working together with a global perspective to identify and build on innovative solutions. 

However, the biggest barriers in their work are communicating the highly technical ideas behind many climate adaptation businesses to potential investors, as well as linking academic research to real-world applications. 

The CleantechHUB representative emphasizes that his team works to remove the barriers startups encounter, such as securing capital for emerging technologies.

“Most of our startups are led by engineers and they sit across the table from a banker who does not know anything about engineering and vice versa. A lot of the time, we are in the middle; we help validate their business model, and that for funders is very valuable," says Blaauw. 

The global green business accelerator is helping hundreds of start-ups across the world to raise capital and create green jobs, but the Colombian hub is special because, according to Blaauw, they’ve been able to access grant money from the UNDP-implemented Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (UNDP-AFCIA)., 

UNDP-AFCIA accelerates innovative technologies, practices and business models for local adaptation by tapping into the incredible potential of NGOs, civil society, women and young innovators. 

“UNDP is traditionally not known for being an organization that is very accessible to tiny organizations like us, and with the UNDP-AFCIA programme they are breaking away from that, which is a huge deal for us. We hope that UNDP continues with the AFCIA work because it's so crucial to get this thing going,” says Blaauw. 

​​The grant funds supported their Climathon and ClimateLaunchpad programmes, which provide platforms for entrepreneurs to develop and present their sustainable business ideas.  

“The Colombia ClimAccelerator has helped companies like Lynks and Fluvia scale their operations. By offering resources, mentorship, and support programmes, CleantechHUB is instrumental in enhancing the reach and effectiveness of such climate entrepreneurs who are driving sustainable change and innovation in precision agriculture.” 

Some of the incredible achievements reached by the organization were the creation of access to US$42.9 million in capital for eight out of ten startups in 2023, continuing to fundraise for more than 15 companies, and incubating 50 climate entrepreneurs under Climate Launchpad from 300 applicants.  

He remembers their mission ultimately is to reach even more start-ups. Over the past couple of years they have accompanied a couple of hundred start-ups, but over the next couple of years they want to be able to support a couple of thousand start-ups.  

“If we can get 10x our support, we for sure know that we can make 10x the climate impact being delivered by them", says Blaauw.  

Blaauw adds that they measure success through tangible environmental impact. Their metrics include assessing whether start-ups achieve self-sustainability, create green jobs, deliver positive climate benefits, and attract green finance.  

​​Lynks, for instance, serves sugar, rice, palm and other growers, as well as irrigation districts and environmental corporations. “Testimonials from their clients highlight the practicality and effectiveness of Lynks' systems in managing water usage and improving crop development with less water,” explains Blaauw. 

Many of the start-ups they work with also have female founders and co-founders. 

“Our latest batch of start-ups in our acceleration programme are 40 percent women-led, and we’ve been working with another funder on how we can involve more women in our programmes." 

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About the programme:  

This story has been co-created with the support from CDKN, UNDP and Cleantech Hub, under the UNDP-implemented - Adaptation Fund Climate Innovation Accelerator (UNDP-AFCIA). The UNDP- AFCIA programme is funded by the Adaptation Fund and the European Union. To date, the programme has awarded 44 micro and small grants to locally-led organizations across 33 countries worldwide, accelerating their innovative solutions to build resilience in the most vulnerable communities. 

 UNDP-AFCIA , is one of the funding windows of the Adaptation Innovation Marketplace (AIM), a multi-stakeholder strategic platform that promotes scaled-up adaptation at the local level, launched by UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner at the Climate Adaptation Summit in January 2021.