October 27, 2025 in Africa, Sustainability, Latin America, Asia, Climate Innovation & Adaptation
Startups are decentralizing climate solutions through digital platforms, data, and marketplaces to rapidly empower local communities.
Digital greentech is a pivotal aspect of climate action because it makes action more decentralized, accessible, and impactful. Across Africa, Asia, and Latin America, startups are developing platforms and marketplaces that enable local communities, farmers, and businesses to take real-time action on sustainability. These innovations work because they are practical, measurable, and deeply rooted in local contexts.
The global green technology and sustainability market is projected to grow from USD 25.47 billion in 2025 to USD 73.90 billion by 2030, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 23.7% according to MarketsandMarkets. This growth is driven by increasing demand for data-driven, scalable, and efficient environmental solutions.
In emerging markets, this trend is particularly evident, as digital platforms are empowering local actors, particularly companies and corporations, to implement sustainable practices effectively. Through Village Capital’s Greentech 2025 global initiative, exceptional innovators across Africa, Asia, and Latin America have stories to share. These startups are providing solutions that educate companies, producers, and consumers, in turn fulfilling the need for system-level change with practical, scalable interventions.
Ecosuelo Lab is transforming agriculture in Latin America by giving farmers actionable insights into their soil health. Since launching in 2023, the startup has supported over 250 producers across Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, covering more than 4,000 hectares with regenerative nutrition services based on sap, soil, and satellite analysis.
“From the moment a farmer sends a sample to the lab, it takes just 8-12 days to receive a complete diagnostic and recommendation,” explains Sebastián Puelma, Co-Founder of Ecosuelo Lab. “This is incredibly fast given that we’re working with European laboratories that provide the precision needed for effective nutrient management.”
Farmers report increased production and direct savings per hectare per season. Ecosuelo Lab’s pilot projects show that improved soil management can also boost carbon sequestration, increase organic matter, and optimize water usage. Beyond individual farm benefits, Ecosuelo Lab shares insights through seminars, alliances with local associations, and public forums, driving a broader cultural shift toward regenerative practices.
By combining technology with human guidance, smallholder farmers can achieve profitability and environmental impact simultaneously. The startup is also supporting knowledge transfer within local communities, creating networks that enable farmers to adopt best practices efficiently.
Also in Latin America, SIR Ambiental is helping municipalities and companies in Mexico manage waste and water more effectively, turning a fragmented, reactive process into one that is measurable and strategic. “Before SIR Track [SIR Ambiental’s product], clients were dealing with inefficiencies, compliance gaps, and high costs. Our goal is to make every kilogram of waste traceable, turning a logistical challenge into actionable data,” explains Félix Martínez, Co-Founder of SIR Ambiental.
In 2024 alone, SIR managed over 1,038 tons of hazardous, special handling, and recyclable waste, diverting it from landfills or illegal dumping and ensuring recycling or proper treatment. Clients could see operational savings of 30-40% through optimized collection routes, while full traceability has resulted in near-perfect compliance and zero reported incidents. Moreover, up to a 45% increase in waste recovery is made possible by transforming discarded materials into revenue streams and significantly reducing environmental impact, all while moving towards a goal of “zero-waste-to-landfill.”
The platform also drives cultural change within organizations. Employees are trained to segregate waste properly, and sustainability KPIs become part of daily operations, gradually shifting companies from reactive handling to a proactive, data-driven approach. Félix notes, “Leaders are starting to see waste not just as something to dispose of but as a resource that can generate revenue, improve efficiency, and reduce environmental impact.”
By standardizing digital traceability across Latin America, SIR Ambiental sets benchmarks that can influence policy and industry standards. Each deployment shows how technology, transparency, and training can combine to make sustainable waste and water management practical, scalable, and profitable, contributing to the broader greentech ecosystem.
In Kenya, M-taka is turning informal waste collection into a structured, profitable, and sustainable activity. The platform currently engages thousands of active users, with a focus on helping women and young people by working with a network of trained agents. As a result, waste actors using M-taka report a 30-50% increase in monthly income.
Renise Atieno, leader of the Amazing Grace youth group in Kisumu (a M-taka user), describes the transformation: “Through M-taka, we received financial literacy, investor readiness, and business development training. Combined with technical support like protective gear and weighing scales, we became better organised.” Today, groups like Renise’s collect recyclables, operate buyback centres, educate households on proper disposal, and manage subscriptions digitally.
As of 2025, 2,300+ active users are on M-taka’s platform, resulting in 1.3 million kilograms of recyclables being processed, keeping waste out of landfills, rivers, and streets, and avoiding 3,500+ tonnes of CO2e emissions.
Community behaviour is changing as well. Over time, trust has been built and perceptions shifted from “waste as nuisance” to “waste as livelihood,” just like SIR Ambiental’s impact in Mexico. Meanwhile, M-taka works to influence Extended Producer Responsibility regulations and ensure transparent digital reporting of recyclables across East Africa. M-taka’s efforts demonstrate how digital platforms and guidance can professionalize informal sectors and create lasting environmental and economic impact.
Another startup is addressing labor shortages and inefficiency in emerging market agriculture through its autonomous planting robot, OSIRIS-1. While not yet commercially deployed, OZ-TECH’s prototype testing has highlighted potential efficiency gains from its base in Egypt. In prototype testing, OSIRIS-1 reduced planting time for one feddan from a full day of manual labor to less than 1 hour, which is 16 times faster. Tests also showed up to a 20% improvement in seedling survival rates due to consistent planting depth and spacing. These results demonstrate the OZ-TECH robot’s potential impact once deployed commercially.
“Farmers repeatedly tell us that labor costs and inefficiencies are major pain points. When they see OSIRIS-1 in action, the benefits are immediately clear,” says Amr Gamal, Co-Founder of OZ-TECH. The startup’s service-based model reduces upfront costs, making robotics accessible to smallholder and mid-scale farmers and inspiring broader adoption. “The ability to plant quickly and uniformly, combined with the option to access robots through a service model rather than a high upfront purchase, makes adoption attractive to them.”
Beyond efficiency, OSIRIS-1 generates excitement among young farmers and students, demonstrating the role of agri-automation in modernizing farming practices. The startup also works with local agricultural associations and policymakers to advocate for incentives that support AI-driven technologies in agriculture, showing how technology and education can jointly catalyze systemic change. “We want to challenge the perception that advanced agricultural technologies are only for developed markets,” says Gamal. “Our mission is to prove that affordable, AI-driven robots can empower smallholder and mid-scale farmers in emerging markets.”
With enormous advances in supply chain emissions, StarfetchX streamlines carbon and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) reporting for businesses from Malaysia. The platform reduces time spent on reporting and improves accuracy, aligning data with frameworks like the GHG Protocol.
It’s common for companies to be cautious initially about relying on AI for compliance-related reporting. For most new clients, the turning point is realizing how much time and resources they’re losing by sticking to manual or consulting-heavy approaches. “Once they see a demo and understand that AI can leverage the analysis of carbon data for optimization and produce ESG reporting with AI while still aligning with international standards, then the decision becomes straightforward,” says Mike CYK, CEO and Founder of StarfetchX. The biggest selling point for users, however, is the peace of mind that their reporting will be both accurate and audit-ready.
“After adopting StarfetchX, we [a mid-sized manufacturing company] managed to consolidate and clean up supplier data in just a few weeks,” says a StarfetchX user. With those insights, they discovered inefficiencies in their energy usage across several production lines and implemented changes guided by an AI diagnosis and analytics, reducing their operational emissions by 8% within the first few months. “On top of that, their sustainability planning became much more precise, allowing them to set realistic reduction targets and avoid unnecessary consulting costs,” explains Mike.
Following advocates like this client, helping spread the word, StarfetchX has been invited by the local government to collaborate on advancing sustainability initiatives and encouraging businesses to adopt more sustainable practices. The platform demonstrates that data-driven insights, combined with user-friendly tools, can make sustainability more practical, operational, and central to decision-making, rather than a compliance exercise.
Land management in 2025 is more technologically advanced than we ever imagined. Since launching its platforms EB TERRA, AgriGuard, and CarbonGuard, Evolving Brilliance Technologies (EB Tech), has worked with several partners. Together, these collaborations have advanced over 33,000 hectares of carbon projects in the east coast of Malaysia and western Indonesia areas, with more than 30,000 additional hectares in negotiation.
Technology has been the cornerstone of this progress. EB Tech’s digital MRV systems speed up project verification by as much as 50% while reducing manual monitoring and audit costs by 30-40%. “AI models consistently deliver over 95% accuracy in fruit counting and biomass estimation, processing data up to ten times faster than manual methods,” says Dr. Ashweein Narayanan, Co-Founder and Director of EB Tech. Features like HarvestGuard™, which uses GPS-tagged audit trails and in-vehicle vision, eliminate leakage and theft entirely. By combining these elements, EB Tech achieves more than a 30% increase in total land asset value by leveraging agricultural yield, environmental credits, and community benefits.
One flagship collaboration highlights the model in action: YAKOPI’s 1 Billion Trees initiative with the Aceh and Medan governments. Using EB TERRA’s MRV platform, mangrove growth and carbon capture are tracked in real time. Verification times are halved, audit costs are significantly reduced, and stakeholders, ranging from local communities to policymakers, gain transparent proof of impact. This foundation supports a long-term carbon credit system that ties ecological restoration directly to livelihoods.
EB Tech’s ambition is to “reshape land management so that productivity, environmental integrity, and social value are inseparable.” Through digital ground truthing – the verified, true data used for training, validating, and testing AI – and transparent carbon accounting, the startup is making productive land management the norm, aiming to influence both policy and investment, steering capital toward projects that regenerate landscapes while empowering communities.
Decentralized Solutions with Global Impact
From farm fields to urban waste streams, these startups show how digital platforms and marketplaces can decentralize climate action. Evolving Brilliance Technologies, Ecosuelo Lab, M-taka, OZ-TECH, StarfetchX, and SIR Ambiental are solving immediate environmental problems not purely through policy, but through empowering companies, creating measurable impacts, and building systems that can scale sustainably.
By meeting users where they are, providing actionable insights, and simplifying adoption, these ventures demonstrate that practical interventions combined with digital innovation catalyze systemic change.
All six startups are participants in Village Capital’s Greentech 2025 global initiative, showing that greentech can make sustainability tangible, measurable, and accessible. When solutions begin where they are most needed, climate action creates a foundation of resilience and shared responsibility that can expand far beyond the initial community.
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