Launched in 2023, Terratai is tackling one of Southeast Asia's most persistent financing gaps: the lack of early-stage capital for nature-based businesses. Focused on Indonesia, the venture builder targets the "missing middle" in conservation finance – enterprises seeking $100,000 to $1 million, too large for grants but too early-stage for conventional investors.

Using a blended finance model that combines catalytic philanthropy, flexible working capital and hands-on venture support, Terratai aims to make ecosystem protection commercially viable.

Its five portfolio companies operate across forestry, regenerative agriculture and coastal livelihoods. Collectively, they have placed more than 2.3 million hectares under protection or improved management, supported over 22,000 people living at ecosystem frontiers and avoided an estimated 14,566 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions to date.

Projects include sustainable illipe nut harvesting in West Kalimantan, pesticide-reduction technology in Indonesia and Malaysia, Indigenous-led rattan enterprises in Central Kalimantan, community-based spice value chains in Maluku and seaweed farming initiatives in East Nusa Tenggara.

One Sustainable Investment Awards judge praised the initiative for the "direct impact" of its projects.

Terratai says every dollar of catalytic capital deployed has mobilised five dollars of private investment, while its in-house financing facility has already received its first full loan repayment.

In December 2025, it launched HIVE, a blended finance facility aiming to channel $200 million into nature-based investments across Southeast Asia over the next decade.