Exclusive | Green Finance: Supporting US$50 million decarbonization fund run by wealthy families in Hong Kong, Greater Bay Area and Australia

Carl Betzer and Twynham Investment Director Jonathan Green arrived just before the holidays to meet with Hong Kong family offices and other professional investors to promote Twynham’s Earth Fund, an early-stage venture capital fund. did.

The fund will be established in early 2023 and aims to raise US$50 million to invest in companies focused on technologies that reduce carbon emissions. The company has already signed deals with high-profile investors, including Lucas Walton, heir to retail giant Walmart, and Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

“We met with a lot of people in Hong Kong, and the response was positive,” Karl Betzer said.

Carl Betzer is the second generation of his family to run Twynham and plans to consider setting up a base in Hong Kong.

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“Hong Kong is certainly one of the top choices for investment,” he said. “Obviously, we will consider setting up an office in Hong Kong, depending on what kind of investment returns we receive from Hong Kong and Chinese investors.”

Mr Green lived in Hong Kong for several years before returning to Australia four years ago, so he is familiar with the development region, which includes Hong Kong, Macau and nine cities in mainland Guangdong province.

“The Greater Bay Area has some of the fastest and best innovators anywhere on the planet,” he said.

The fund has already invested in four companies and plans to invest in a total of 25 companies by 2025.

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“Our interests go back to the agricultural business,” Carlbetzer said. “We are always looking at ways to improve things in a more environmentally friendly way and develop new technologies for different types of agriculture.”

Carl Betzer’s father, John, who died in November at the age of 92, was ranked Australia’s 49th richest person in 2019. He was born in Germany but moved to Australia in 1969 and founded Twynham. He built most of his fortune in farming, and his two sons, Johnny and Marcus, have shifted into venture capital and real estate in recent years.

Johnny Carlbetzer has a long history in decarbonization investing, having personally invested US$80 million in this space over the past decade.

“If we want to believe in solving global warming, the only way is to decarbonize,” he said. “That is my mission and the passion of our team. Over the past few days, many people I have met in the Asia-Pacific region have spoken openly about climate change, and the climate is becoming hotter, drier, and humid. We’re surprised that they say they’re increasing.”

Therefore, Karl Betzer doesn’t think it will be difficult to raise capital for the fund. Rather, the challenge is to select companies with technology and business models that can achieve the goal of decarbonization while at the same time delivering returns for the fund’s investors within 10 years.

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The family itself has invested 10% of the Earth Fund, or US$5 million.

“Another reason we created this fund is because I have two children who just graduated from high school,” Carl Betzer said. “My eldest son is very interested in this field and has already started to develop an interest in this business.”

He added that he hopes his son will join the family business in eight to 10 years and continue the work and mission.

“That’s our family’s reputation, and we take that very seriously,” he said. “We want to secure the returns and environmental impact that we say we will achieve with this Earth Fund.”