Social Impact Partners (“SIP”) today announced it will provide Blue Sky Energy Technology (“Blue Sky”) with a loan facility of HKD 2 million available for drawdown over the course of two years. Additionally, SIP together with its professional network will provide Blue Sky with in- kind business expertise to help the rising social enterprise to achieve greater social impact.
Patrick Cordes, Director of the Board of SIP and Managing Director and CFO of Baring Private Equity Asia, said: “Energy conservation is critically important to Hong Kong, and Blue Sky provides an elegant and transparent corporate solution to monitor energy consumption and ultimately change behaviour to consume less energy and reduce pollution.”
Air pollution in Hong Kong is a critical issue. A significant part of the pollution is caused by electricity generation. Blue Sky realises people’s awareness of their own energy usage is low and therefore consumption is not optimised. With a mission to solve this pressing social issue, Blue Sky tracks real-time electricity data through easy-to-install power sensors and makes it accessible to users through its proprietary and user friendly dashboard.
“We are excited to partner with SIP to systematically conserve energy use in our city,” said Christina Tang, Founder and CEO of Blue Sky. “SIP’s loan facility will provide Blue Sky with the flexibility to undertake a larger variety of projects. Electricity consumption is the largest carbon emission source in Hong Kong. Since the beginning of Blue Sky, we have been applying various behavioral science techniques combined with real-time energy data to help people become wiser energy user. So far, the projects results have shown that occupants behaviors can play a huge role in conserving energy use, up to 25% of energy saving. We are thrilled to continue develop our expertise in data-centric energy conservation technology and expanding the service to more people.”
Besides power tracking, Blue Sky sets education in the form of end user engagement as a core part of its strategy. It has designed engagement programs to raise user awareness of personal energy use in order to achieve long-term behaviour change. Blue Sky runs workshops with data scientist and data analytical challenges to engage participants on a journey to discover their impact and arrive at sustainable solutions.
SIP’s commitment in Blue Sky is multi-fold. A loan facility of HKD 2 million provides the company with financial freedom to meet the rapidly growing market demand. A basket of KPIs are carefully selected to ensure the financial soundness and greater social impact go hand in hand.
SIP and its extensive network provide in-kind business expertise. Global strategic advisory firm Newgate Communications will be working closely with Blue Sky on marketing strategies. PwC will assist Blue Sky on the enhancement of accounting and auditing functions. SIP will advise and support Blue Sky on the establishment of the Board.
Due diligence on Blue Sky was conducted by SIP and its professional partners. ALS International performed management appraisals, Dechert carried out a legal due diligence, and PwC managed a financial review.
ABOUT BLUE SKY ENERGY TECHNOLOGY
People’s awareness of their own energy consumption is low. Blue Sky Energy Technology (“Blue Sky”)’s mission is “Know more. Waste less.” They make it easy for users to understand their energy use and hence save on energy and utility bill.
The Solution consists of easy-to-install power sensors, a virtual interactive dashboard and user engagement program. The power sensors are installed at the electricity panel. The real-time result is then display on a user friendly dashboard accessible over the internet.
The Solution’s engagement component incorporates behavioural science principles to develop people’s sustainable energy use habits. In addition to the software platform, Blue Sky runs workshops with data scientist posing real data-driven challenges to engage participants on a journey to discover their impact and arrive at sustainable solutions.
ABOUT SOCIAL IMPACT PARTNERS
Social Impact Partners (SIP) is a Hong Kong-based venture philanthropy firm with a mission to enable sustainable change to systemic social issues.
As a financing and strategic partner to growth-stage social purpose organisations, SIP creates tailored solutions that help develop the sustainability and scalability that social purpose organisations (SPOs) (non- profit organisations and social enterprises) need to achieve organisational maturity.
While itself is not-for-profit, SIP evaluates all potential SPO partners with the same rigour and due diligence as would a traditional investor deciding a portfolio opportunity. SIP is also distinctly equipped to drive rapid and effective organisational improvement: When SPOs partner with SIP, they are also partnering with SIP’s extensive network of world-class professional experts, long-term funding partners and global industry leaders. One dollar into SIP deploys two dollars of investment value into SIP’s SPO portfolios – an exponential return on positive social impact.
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