Tata Capital (TCL), the financial services company of the Tata Group, has partnered with the Green Climate Fund (GCF) under its newly approved BEACON India program to support early-stage climate tech startups in India, investing a total of $66.45 million.

TCL is collaborating with the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) and the Tiruchirappalli Regional Engineering College-Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Park (TREC-STEP) to implement the program.

GCF will provide TCL with a revolving facility of $15.85 million, with an additional $3 million grant to make financing more affordable for climate-focused startups. Under the revolving structure, TCL will reinvest the loans repaid by the startups into new ventures.

TCL said it will contribute $47.6 million of its own funds under this initiative. The company had first collaborated with GCF in 2019 for rooftop solar financing.

GCF has a portfolio of $19.3 billion, funding over 300 projects in more than 130 countries. Its first funding initiative in 2015 comprised $6.2 million to support a renewable energy project in Peru’s Amazon Basin.

In July this year, GCF approved $200 million (~₹17.07 billion) for a new program led by the Asian Development Bank to enhance large-scale public and private investments in India’s high-impact and emerging clean energy sectors. This funding was ADB’s first partnership with GCF in India.

In March last year, Avaana Capital, a climate-technology investor, received an investment of $120 million, including $24.5 million from GCF, in the “Avaana Climate and Sustainability.” The investment is expected to support the company’s efforts to foster climate innovation and sustainability in India. This was the first time GCF has financed a climate venture fund in India.

Joining the list of financial institutions supporting early-stage companies, EIB Global, the European Investment Bank’s development arm, is investing up to $60 million in the India Energy Transition Fund. The fund has a target size of $300 million and will channel equity and quasi-equity into greenfield infrastructure projects and growth-stage companies, which EAAA Alternatives will manage.