// NEWS //
Mandala Capital secures Green Climate Fund approval to scale climate adaptation in South and Southeast Asia
Mandala Capital, a private equity fund investing in the agriculture and food sectors across South and Southeast Asia, announced that the Green Climate Fund( GCF) has officially approved the Mandala Capital SSEA Food Fund at its 43rd Board Meeting.
GCF committed US $ 36 million as an anchor investor in the US $ 250 million blended finance fund aimed at accelerating climate adaptation across the region’ s agrifood systems.
Agriculture and food systems across South and Southeast Asia face a significant financing gap, despite their vital role in regional livelihoods and global food security. Agriculture contributes to 13 % of regional GDP and employs over one-third of the population, yet investment in climate-resilient agriculture remains insufficient.
At the same time, climate change is expected to reduce crop yields by 10 – 20 % in the coming decades, threatening the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers.
Through GCF’ s commitment, Mandala Capital will mobilise additional private investment to scale climate adaptation solutions and strengthen value chains that support over 12 million people across South and Southeast Asia.
“ The Philippines’ NDA [ National Designated Authority ] welcomes Mandala Capital’ s commitment to channel a portion of the fund’ s investment into local initiatives, supporting innovative SMEs that can deliver real, scalable impact. This initiative underscores how private capital can be effectively leveraged to accelerate resilience and transformation in the agrifood sector,” said Joven Balbosa, Undersecretary, International Finance Group, Philippines NDA.
Australian FinTech enters UK market to support £ 1.3 trillion SME economy
Zeller, an Australian FinTech redefining business banking, announced its upcoming launch into the United Kingdom, its first international market and the beginning of an expansion strategy to deploy Zeller’ s leading all-in-one payment and financial ecosystem globally.
To lead its UK operations, Zeller has appointed Lars Weber, a former ByteDance executive with extensive international experience launching technology businesses. The company will base itself in London, with recruitment underway to scale the team to over 40 people across technology, operations, and go-to-market roles in the next three years. Zeller’ s London team brings together experienced leaders from leading FinTechs, Square and Pockit to accelerate its market entry.
Existing global partnerships with technology platforms including Oracle, Xero, Tevalis and Redcat will also provide Zeller with the integrations to scale quickly and capture upmarket merchant demand at launch.
“ This is a pivotal moment for Zeller,” said Ben Pfisterer, Zeller CEO and Co-founder.“ Our ambition has always been to create a global financial platform for businesses. Expanding into the UK – one of the world’ s largest and most dynamic small business economies – is the first step in realising that vision.”
The addressable market that Zeller is targeting in the UK is large and underserved, with over 5.5 million businesses operating which process over £ 1.3 trillion in payments annually. Many UK business owners continue to report challenges with legacy banks, including hidden fees, slow service and complex contracts. �
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