Climate tech is moving from narratives to execution: Sandiip Bhammer, Founder, Green Frontier Capital

Over the course of his career, he has held senior leadership roles in Citigroup Global Markets, HSBC, CLSA, DiMaio Ahmad Capital, Balyasny Asset Management, and The Amaranth Group.

Based in the US, he is also the co-author of India’s Green Startups, a book exploring issues of sustainability, entrepreneurship and economic transformation in India.

Sandiip has an MBA from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University, and a master’s degree from the Carroll School of Management, Boston College.

He spoke to indianexpress.com on his entrepreneurial journey, his focus on sustainability, the climate tech startups he has invested in, and the impact of those investments. Edited excerpts:

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Tell us about your journey to Green Frontier Capital.

Sandiip Bhammer: After nearly three decades in global finance, investing across markets, I became convinced that climate change would drive one of the largest capital reallocations of our lifetime.

India, with its scale, entrepreneurial talent and development needs, sits at the heart of this opportunity. I founded Green Frontier Capital in 2020 to back Indian startup entrepreneurs building commercially compelling businesses.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: What are the areas of focus at Green Frontier Capital?

Sandiip Bhammer: We invest across mobility, energy and storage, food and agriculture, circular economy, sustainable lifestyles and emerging climate technologies. Our view on impact is pragmatic: climate technologies must be scalable.

What we find is that a few startups are profitable in due course, but they might never scale, and in some cases, there are those which might scale, but might take a long time to be profitable. We look for businesses in which profitability and positive climate outcomes reinforce one another.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Are some climate tech investors wary of the Indian market?

Sandiip Bhammer: Climate tech investments require a long gestation period for generating returns, and the Indian ecosystem is not set up for such a scenario. Climate tech companies that are into deep tech solutions require a larger amount of money, and that is not easily available in India. Hence, what we see in India is a focus on asset-light models.

Moreover, startups have another issue in India. The climate-related themes are also very localised. For example, startups in Delhi might be looking at air quality as a problem, while those in Bengaluru might look at water issues, and those in Mumbai might look at waste-related issues.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Tell us about your startups and the problems they are solving.

Sandiip Bhammer: There is Pune-based EMotorad, which is making electric mobility accessible through affordable e-bikes. The company aims to make cycling more accessible through pedal-assist e-bikes that combine affordability with smart tech. It has expanded into multiple overseas markets in Europe, the Middle East, Japan, and Australia, making it one of India’s fastest-growing e-bike brands.

New Delhi-based Euler Motors is electrifying commercial transportation, where high vehicle utilisation makes EV adoption compelling. The company targets fleet operators, e-commerce companies, and logistics providers seeking lower operating costs and reduced emissions. Euler Motors differentiates itself through an integrated ecosystem that includes fast charging, fleet management software, financing partnerships, and vehicle servicing.

Bangalore-based ElectricPe is tackling critical bottlenecks in charging infrastructure. It is building an integrated ecosystem for electric mobility by combining EV charging infrastructure, vehicle retail, financing, and energy services. ElectricPe focuses on addressing ecosystem gaps that slow EV adoption. Its platform brings together charging, insurance, financing, maintenance, and digital services to simplify the ownership experience for consumers.

Rather than selling climate as an abstract concept, these companies are solving real problems around mobility, cost, and productivity.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Tell us about a few global climate tech startups that you are excited about.

Sandiip Bhammer: There is Rincell, which is developing next-generation battery chemistries aimed at improving performance, economics, and energy security. It is a battery tech company developing next-generation lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries for high-performance and mission-critical applications. The company aims to accelerate the electrification of products with high carbon emissions by combining advanced cell chemistry with scalable manufacturing.

Mantel Capture is pioneering an innovative approach to carbon capture for hard-to-abate industries. Its proprietary tech is designed to operate inside boilers, kilns, furnaces, and other industrial equipment, allowing carbon dioxide to be captured at high temperatures where industrial processes already operate. By integrating with existing facilities and recovering waste heat as usable steam, Mantel Capture seeks to overcome one of the biggest barriers to conventional carbon capture — its high energy consumption and cost.

Amogy is developing ammonia-to-power technology with the potential to decarbonise shipping and other heavy industries. It is developing ammonia-to-power systems that generate carbon-free electricity using ammonia as a hydrogen carrier. Instead of transporting and storing pure hydrogen, Amogy’s tech cracks ammonia onboard to release hydrogen, which is then fed into fuel cells to produce electricity. This approach leverages the world’s existing ammonia production, storage, and transportation infrastructure, making hydrogen-based energy easier to deploy for applications where batteries are impractical.

I am invested in all the above companies. Each of them addresses a very different challenge, but they are all tackling enormous problems where technological breakthroughs can fundamentally reshape industries.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Tell us about the areas of opportunity that climate tech startups have in India.

Sandiip Bhammer: I’ve always believed that India is one of the world’s greatest laboratories for climate innovation because our environmental challenges coexist with extraordinary economic growth.

Opportunities span electric mobility, storage, cooling, water, waste, sustainable agriculture and new materials. But the real opportunity is larger.

India can develop climate solutions for the next four billion consumers across emerging markets. If we can make technologies affordable, scalable and commercially viable in India, their relevance extends far beyond its own borders.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Is there a slowdown in the green tech startup space globally?

Sandiip Bhammer: I would differentiate between a slowdown in funding and a slowdown in innovation. Capital has become more disciplined after the exuberance of 2020-2022.

Climate tech is moving from narrative to execution. Investors increasingly want unit economics, defensible technology and pathways to scale. Meanwhile, the underlying drivers like energy security, electrification, AI-driven electricity demand, industrial decarbonisation and climate resilience have strengthened. I see this phase less as a contraction and more as a path towards maturity.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: Tell us about innovations in your space and its potential for India.

Sandiip Bhammer: Five areas particularly excite me. Long-duration energy storage and next-generation battery chemistries, nuclear fusion, AI-driven energy optimisation, next-generation cooling and technologies decarbonising heavy industry.

Long-duration energy storage (LDES) technologies are designed to store electricity for periods ranging from several hours to multiple days, helping balance the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources such as solar and wind. Unlike conventional lithium-ion batteries, which are best suited for short-duration storage, LDES solutions enable a more reliable and resilient electricity grid.

Nuclear fusion, if successfully commercialised, could fundamentally transform the global energy equation. Unlike conventional nuclear fission, fusion generates minimal long-lived radioactive waste and carries no risk of runaway chain reactions.

AI is increasingly being used to optimise the generation, distribution, storage, and consumption of energy across electricity networks and industrial facilities. AI systems analyse vast amounts of real-time data from sensors, weather forecasts, electricity markets, and equipment to forecast demand. They also integrate renewable energy, optimise battery charging and discharging, improve grid stability, and reduce operational costs.

Next-generation cooling solutions include highly efficient heat pumps, solid-state cooling, liquid cooling for data centres, advanced refrigerants, passive cooling materials, and smart building management systems. These technologies reduce energy use while replacing conventional refrigerants that contribute to climate change.

Heavy industries such as steel, cement, chemicals, mining, and refining account for nearly one-third of global carbon dioxide emissions and are among the most difficult sectors to decarbonise. Emerging technologies are addressing these emissions through green hydrogen, carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), electrified industrial heat, low-carbon cement and steel production, advanced materials, waste heat recovery, and circular manufacturing processes.

India has enormous relevance across all the five themes. India should be participating in these technological frontiers, not simply as a consumer but by building intellectual property, manufacturing capabilities and globally competitive companies around them.

Venkatesh Kannaiah: If you were to solve three problems in India in the space you invest in, what would they be?

Sandiip Bhammer: Firstly, I would solve energy storage at a massive scale, because cheap, reliable storage has the potential to change the economics of India’s entire energy system.

Secondly, I would address water — its availability, efficiency, treatment and reuse — because it may become one of India’s greatest constraints on growth.

Thirdly, I would transform waste into an economic resource through circularity.

Solve energy, water and waste, and you do considerably more than reduce emissions: you improve India’s public health and long-term economic competitiveness.