Long-duration energy storage, desert-grown food, and AI-powered energy grids - Unreasonable Impact welcomes 11 ventures across Asia Pacific and the Middle East

• 11 new ventures from across Asia Pacific and the Middle East, with a number that are using the latest technology to boost energy security and to help other businesses reduce their operating costs are joining Unreasonable Impact.
  
  
• Run by Barclays and Unreasonable Group for 10 years, this programme supports leading entrepreneurs through mentoring and support networks.
  
  
• This year’s intake includes ventures focused on energy security, sustainable food systems, regenerative agriculture, and antimicrobial biotechnology.
  
  

Unreasonable Impact, a strategic partnership between Unreasonable Group and Barclays, has announced the cohort of technology-led, high-growth companies selected for its Asia Pacific and Middle East programme.

This year’s intake uses advanced technology to grow food in desert climates, store and deliver energy at scale, support smallholder farmers in adopting climate-smart practices, and revive underused buildings and neighbourhoods. Among them are:

• VFlow Tech is a Singapore-based deep tech company that designs and manufactures long-duration energy storage batteries, with modular systems that last 25 years, are non-flammable, and fully recyclable, deployed across grids and industrial applications in over 10 countries.
  
  
• EQuota Energy is an AI and big data firm helping utilities and energy-intensive industries reduce consumption, cut emissions, and improve grid resilience, analysing energy use at scale without new hardware.
  
  
• Pure Harvest Smart Farms is a technology-enabled agribusiness based in the United Arab Emirates that uses advanced hydroponic systems to produce fruits, vegetables, and berries year-round in desert climates across the UAE and Saudi Arabia, addressing regional food security while helping to avoid emissions associated with long-distance imports.
  
  
• Staple is a community-focused real estate developer in Japan transforming underused buildings and neighbourhoods into walkable, culturally rich destinations, working across eight historic neighbourhoods from Hiroshima to Hakodate to develop hotels, public bathhouses, cafes, and workspaces that strengthen local communities and counter rural depopulation.
  
  
• Grow Indigo is a sustainable agriculture company formed as a joint venture between Mahyco and Indigo Ag, providing biological crop inputs and operating the largest carbon farming platform for smallholder farmers in India, connecting climate-smart practices to voluntary carbon markets across more than 14 states and reaching over eight million farmers.
  
  

Collectively, this year’s Asia Pacific and Middle East cohort has raised over $450M to date and employs more than 1,300 people.

Barclays and Unreasonable share the belief that high-growth businesses, supported by new technology and innovation, like the companies above, are well-positioned to address global challenges while creating the jobs of the future. This shared vision led to the creation of Unreasonable Impact.

Since its launch in 2016, the programme has supported 395 ventures, who have collectively raised over $18 billion in financing, and employ more than 33,000 people. Some of the solutions provided by these companies are used in Barclays’ own operations today and have also been supported through Barclays Climate Ventures.

Unreasonable Impact works because it brings together two things that are rarely combined:

• Unreasonable Group identifies and curates the world’s most ambitious growth-stage founders, entrepreneurs with proven models who are ready to scale.
  
  
• Barclays provides the expertise, networks, and institutional reach that those founders cannot get anywhere else.
  
  

Daniel Epstein, CEO of Unreasonable Group, commented: " What we have created with Barclays over ten years is a community built around the belief that founders working on hard problems deserve the right support around them. The companies joining this year are developing technology-led solutions in clean energy, food security, regenerative agriculture, and antimicrobial biotechnology. By working with Barclays and our wider network, we want to make sure they have the mentorship, connections, and market access they need to scale"

Deborah Goldfarb, Global Head of Citizenship, Barclays, commented: “Barclays’ partnership with Unreasonable has been running since 2016, and over that time we have used our expertise to support hundreds of high-growth, technology-led businesses at different stages of their journey. Through mentorship and access to our networks, we help entrepreneurs scale new technologies that can support local economies and boost energy security. I am delighted to welcome these new impactful ventures to the programme.”

Charlotte Wang, Founder and Executive Chairman of EQuota Energy, commented: “Being selected for Unreasonable Impact is a tremendous milestone for EQuota Energy. We’ve spent years building AI-powered tools that help utilities and grid operators use energy more efficiently, reducing waste, cutting costs and making the grid more resilient. The energy transition depends on smarter infrastructure and I’m excited to accelerate that work alongside the extraordinary community that Barclays and Unreasonable have built. Together, I believe we can move faster and reach further than any of us could alone.”

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The 11 companies joining the 2026 Unreasonable Impact Asia Pacific and Middle East programme include:

• Enwise - A bioenergy technology company that builds on-site biogas power plants for the food industry. Its modular OSCAR system uses high-density bacterial digestion to convert diverse organic wastes into clean energy and fertiliser at the source, integrated with IoT sensors and AI-driven remote monitoring.
  
  
• EQuota Energy - An AI and big data firm helping utilities and energy-intensive industries reduce consumption, cut emissions, and improve grid resilience. The company uses machine learning and non-intrusive monitoring to analyse energy use at scale without new hardware, and is expanding into virtual power plants and data centre management.
  
  
• Grow Indigo - A sustainable agriculture company formed as a joint venture between Mahyco and Indigo Ag, providing biological crop inputs and operating the largest carbon farming platform for smallholder farmers in India, connecting climate-smart practices to voluntary carbon markets across more than 14 states and reaching over eight million farmers.
  
  
• Meat The Next - A Hong Kong-based food-tech venture developing sustainable alternative proteins through regenerative agriculture and patented food-processing technology, exploring drought-resistant tiger nuts to combat desertification.
  
  
• N&E Innovations - A biotech company that developed ViKang, a patented antimicrobial technology derived from natural compounds. The company creates sustainable, non-toxic solutions for food packaging, medical devices, and hygiene products that extend shelf life, reduce food waste, and deliver 99.9% antibacterial protection safe for human use.
  
  
• Pure Harvest Smart Farms - A technology-enabled agribusiness based in the United Arab Emirates that uses advanced hydroponic systems in fully enclosed, climate-controlled facilities to produce premium fruits, vegetables, and berries year-round in desert climates across the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
  
  
• Rize - An agritech company focused on decarbonising rice cultivation in Southeast Asia, working directly with smallholder farmers in Indonesia, Vietnam, and India. Its data-driven platform helps farmers adopt sustainable practices such as alternate wetting and drying, providing real-time monitoring, training, and carbon credit income.
  
  
• Staple - A community-focused real estate developer in Japan transforming underused buildings and neighbourhoods into walkable, culturally rich destinations. Working across eight historic neighbourhoods from Hiroshima to Hakodate, the company develops hotels, public bathhouses, cafes, and workspaces that strengthen local communities and counter rural depopulation.
  
  
• Terraxy - A Saudi-based agritech startup spun out of KAUST developing advanced soil technologies for arid regions. Its flagship product Carbosoil is the first biochar-based soil amendment engineered specifically to create long-lasting fertility in desert sands, locking stable carbon into soil while improving water and nutrient retention.
  
  
• UPowr - An Australian energy technology company providing an AI-first software platform for the design, sale, and installation of renewable energy systems. The platform automates end-to-end workflows from quoting and compliance through to asset management, validated through its own installation service Wattle Powr.
  
  
• VFlow Tech - A Singapore-based deep tech company spun out of Nanyang Technological University that designs and manufactures vanadium redox flow batteries for long-duration energy storage. Its modular PowerCube systems last 25 years, are non-flammable, and fully recyclable, deployed in over 10 countries.