Asia-Pacific Coalition Launched to Support Impactful Start-Ups with Ocean Focus

An ocean of business opportunities lies in the biodiversity-rich waters of the Asia-Pacific, and a regional coalition was launched in Singapore on May 8 to help start-ups in the region scale up their ideas.

- Audrey Tan

These start-ups have ideas or business models that are profitable or have the potential to generate profit, while also contributing to ocean health.

Examples include seaweed farming, offshore wind power generation and coral restoration initiatives.

The 1,000 Ocean Startups coalition APAC, as the grouping is known, is the regional chapter of a World Economic Forum initiative launched in 2021.

The group comprises entrepreneur-supporting organisations that provide ocean impact start-ups with the resources to scale up. This includes investment, acceleration and mentorship programmes.

The aim of the coalition is to support at least 1,000 impactful ocean-focused start-ups by 2030. So far, more than 350 start-ups have received support from it.

According to its website, the coalition has about 52 members, including investment companies, family offices, philanthropic organisations and firms that run accelerator programmes.

Of these, only six are headquartered in the Asia-Pacific, said Mr Thomas Knudsen, a principal of Singapore-based family office Rumah Group.

Rumah Group is one of three members based in Singapore.