Prince William's Earthshot Prize and Venture Capital Firm 500 Global Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Climate Innovation in Emerging Markets

[My2cents1975]

500 Global is a multi-stage venture capital firm with $2.1B in assets under management (as of March 31, 2025) that invests in founders building fast-growing technology companies.

This is a fantastic story where entrepreneurs creating innovation to address climate challenges while maintaining quality of life can access material funding and back-office expertise to rapidly commercialise these ideas.

Prince William and the Earthshot team deserve massive credit for this win.

The Earthshot Prize and 500 Global Announce Strategic Partnership

I have been following Earthshot on my research/advisory boards where people are focused on the business side...i.e. what is the return on invested capital, return on equity, market opportunity, revenue growth. Earthshot offers a curated group of potential investment targets and large US investors are increasingly interested in the growth potential of Earthshot alumni such as Notpla.

Prince William to announce Earthshot Prize winners in Rio de Janeiro | AP News

Selected from nearly 2,500 nominees from more than 70 countries, finalists include a Brazilian startup which restores forests with the help of Artificial Intelligence and a British company fighting microplastic pollution.

But it also includes the United Nations High Seas Treaty, which seeks to protect marine environments outside of national jurisdictions; the city of Guangzhou, China, a leader in the electrification of public transport; and Lagos Fashion Week, which promotes sustainable, craft-based clothing makers to counter the wave of fast-fashion rejects that literally wash up on African shores.

Ok, that sounds good. What will it look like, though? Does this mean that Earthshot winners will now be fast forwarded along the pitching process for this VC firm? A ‘strategic partnership’ could mean so many things - this all sounds quite vague and waffly.

So.

500 Global's punters clients take on the potential risk of investing in start-ups leaving Earthshot's donated income intact and free to continue funding the globetrotting glitz-fest and inexplicably high admin costs?

Awesome.

500 Global has expertise deploying capital and back-office resources in small companies in emerging markets and helping them grow. Entrepreneurs in emerging markets often struggle with finding funding. I think a lot of people in places like the US and UK think of going to the bank for a loan and don't realise the dysfunction of the banking sector in many emerging markets where many banks do NOT lend to local entrepreneurs.

The incentive from 500 Global's side is to make money for their investors so they will help install systems and processes to grow the business.

The benefits for all of us is a better environment while maintaining our quality of life.

From their website: 500 Global has invested in 140+ companies focused on sustainable innovation across 27 countries including Mexico, Egypt, India and Indonesia, as well as 2024 Earthshot Prize finalist, MYCL. MYCL used the funding to establish a raw material hub in Indonesia to empower smallholder farmers and transform agricultural waste into value-added products to be scaled across Indonesia.

It is quite the choice to refer to venture capital investors as punters.

Shows complete ignorance of the field.

Thanks @My2cents1975 - I had followed a bit but don't know enough about the business end. What you've explained sounds good.

I see that while he is there with Earthshot, he has also announced a partnership between the Royal Foundation (United for Wildlife) and the Coordination of Indigenous Organisations of Brazilian Amazon to produce the Podaali Fund, which will help provide support, funding and legal assistance for indigenous people working to protect the environment in the Amazon.

It's similar to the initiative in Africa that has provided support, including life insurance, for wildlife rangers there.

Thanks. I still don’t quite understand what you’re saying this partnership will look like in reality, though. MYCL are now in direct receipt of VC investment, so that’s good. Are you saying that MC Global is pledging to invest in the winners, earthshot having done all its due diligence for them?

And will this result in more of the extracted natural resources - raw materials from agriculture, mineral processing, textiles, forestry etc - staying in the ‘global south’, for the overall good of the planet?

Or will an economic driver that incentivises investors in the venture capital realm be a push toward exports out of the ‘global south’?

Good question!

From the article you posted:

500 Global and The Earthshot Prize will work together to channel risk capital to innovators

Risk capital:

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/riskcapital.asp

Probably goes by some all fur coat and no knickers investment strategy name in the VC industry but it looks like a punt to me.

Venture capital (VC) essentially works like this. A group of people go around to rich people and big funds and say give me money for a period of time, I will invest it alongside my own money in early to mid-stage companies, then I will sell these stakes and give you a return. And get my fee.

Once the VC has gathered money from investors then they need to find companies to invest in. They need to verify that the founders are who they say they are, the technology is patented, the market opportunity is there, etc. and this process is called due diligence.

It is hard enough finding and then conducting due diligence on companies in developed countries but finding potential investment targets in emerging markets is difficult as there are fewer networking opportunities and many companies come with exposure to politically exposed persons (PEPs). The danger is once you have invested in a company with a PEP and the company leadership purposely steals the money versus using it to grow the business...well what is your legal recourse if the leadership is protected by a PEP?

Due diligence in emerging markets also presents a different degree of difficulty due to a lack of data, corruption, infrastructure shortfalls impacting ability to scale (i.e. impact of constant power outages on manufacturing processes), etc.

Essentially, 500 Global is leaning on the due diligence that Earthshot has already done so they have a pre-screened group of potential investment targets to investigate. But since 500 Global has to live up to its fund documents (all the legal language in fund documents around 500 Global doing its own homework) 500 Global will still do their own extensive due diligence.

Thanks op , very interesting and informative, I’ve seen the news and articles but they focus on the more general aspects 👍

I've just been reading that not only do the 5 winners get £1million to fund the next stage of their projects; all 15 finalists take part in a year-long Finalist Programme receiving training/mentorship, international visibility, pro-bono legal support, and strategic digital/communications advice. That includes access to Earthshot's global network of businesses, investors etc.

To me that makes all the finalists winners.

IMHO, raw materials staying in the global south is not necessarily good for those in the global south. For example, while Zambia accounts 4% of global copper output, due to significant infrastructure shortfalls (Zambia has an electricity deficit of about 600MW), Zambia would be unable to transform all the ore it mines into copper wire. Without copper export royalties Zambia would be unable to import such vital items such as petrol & petroleum products (to move goods & services such as medicines or food from point a to point b) or fertilizers (vital to growing food).

Earthshot does incentivise funding of entrepreneurs leading to more exports from the global south as innovations relevant for one market can be equally relevant in another. Take Mukuru Stoves, which was founded by Charlot Magayi after her toddler daughter was burned by an unsafe stove. Hundreds of millions of women in electricity-deprived areas around the world cook over open flame. The Mukuru stove, with its cleaner burning (so lower fuel costs per unit cooking time), safety aspects (significantly lowers risk of kids being burned) and affordability (made from local recycled material), is an excellent export to adjacent markets bordering Kenya in the East Africa region (Tanzania, Uganda).

Absolutely!

The best part is the access to resources to scale. A healthier earth is good for the entire planet as we only have one earth.

Here's a link to the list of winners.

William announces Earthshot Prize 2025 winners in Rio ceremony

All investment is a 'punt', if those are the terms you want to use. Different degrees of risk, and therefore different degrees of return.

But a factory investing in new equipment is gambling on continued sales of their products.

A start up is a gamble, no matter how much research you have done.

I think anything promoting a better cared for earth is a good thing. And William seems to be quite passionate about it. It’s a passion he doesn’t seem to have for his other causes donperhaps this is where he will do some re

i accidently posted before I could edit.

So, unlike his other causes, William seems very passionate about this one.His heart seems to be in it.

Very true, especially when you are dealing with a start-up in a new technology.

The typical success rate of a VC is 25%...meaning three in four start-ups meaning investors lose money in these ventures. But buried in the 25% are the unicorns...the rare blockbuster successes that generate fantastic returns that more than cover the failures...some of these unicorns create generational wealth.

Good to see we're all now in agreement about the speculative risk element at play despite my 'complete ignorance of the field' 😀

@My2cents1975 , your posts on this are really interesting and informative, thank you.

I'd like to think it's a great initiative. My sceptical nature makes me want to call bullshit though.

William needs to ditch the helis and flying across the oceans for a bit and grow a few spuds in his back garden first.

It seems to be beneficial. However, where are the winners?

This isn't William's fault I don't think, but so far all I've seen is a glitzy ceremony with Kylie Minogue and other famous people, but nothing of the winners receiving a token prize or envelope or whatever. Were they not there or something? It just seems odd that nothing much seems to have been made of their achievements in the media, but loads of pics about the stars who were there.

Plus William recreating a photo of his mum.

There was a lot about the nominees on his Instagram account, not just recently but when they were announced as nominees. With links iirc. The press prefer to cover William playing beach volleyball than give space to the actual people who are wilting for the planet. It's frustrating

As with everything else, it depends what the media thinks will get them clicks.

The Kensington Palace instagram showed the presentations and the winners' acceptance speeches (William wasn't doing the actual presenting, so it was all about them).

@MrsLeonFarrell we were typing at the same time!