Europe faces growing pressure to democratize sustainable solutions. Warming at twice the global average, the continent experiences worsening climate disasters, leaving a devastating and disproportionate impact on low-income communities. Thanks to the demands of consumer behavior and ambitious governmental initiatives, the EU reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 32.5% between 1990 and 2021. Still, there is a long way to go to achieve the region’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. Higher costs and limited access remain key barriers to widespread adoption.
A new wave of early-stage, climate-focused startups is lowering these barriers to green choices, laying the foundation for more individuals and businesses to participate. Through innovative solutions rooted in affordability, value, and customization, startups like BNS, Fornax, and GridShare are accelerating the adoption of sustainable solutions across the European region to achieve a lower-carbon world.
BNS, Fornax, and GridShare are rethinking how individuals and businesses access and pay for clean technologies. By reducing upfront costs, offering flexible payment options, and developing innovative ownership models, their solutions enable previously excluded consumers to make sustainable choices.
Bio-Natural Solutions (BNS) Technology’s Chemical-Free Fungicide Spray in Spain
BNS Technology is making participation in sustainable solutions possible for customers in the food and agricultural sectors. Approximately 1.3 tons of food are wasted annually, with 72% of the waste occurring before the food reaches the customer. This loss amounts to over USD 2.5T and 16.5 billion tons of greenhouse gases.
Miguel Malnati, Ximena Adriazola, and Daniel Oviedo co-founded BNS to transform the food production process, reducing waste. Their signature product, Life Cover, is a plant-based, chemical-free fungicide spray that increases food shelf life by up to 200%. The spray is more affordable than its competitors and integrates into existing systems, eliminating the need for extra capital expenditure. It also offers a suite of distinct benefits to both farmers and the environment: organic certification and versatility across a range of crops. Its optimized, flexible formula accounts for both pre- and post-harvest stages, bringing simplicity and ease across the entire value chain.
A farmer uses BNS’ plant-based, chemical-free fungicide spray on a mandarin plant in Spain to increase its shelf life by 200%.
Fornax’s Pay-Monthly Heat Pumps in the UK
Looking at the energy sector, heat pumps offer a clean alternative to fossil fuel boilers. In the UK, their rollout could reduce national emissions by 20% and save homeowners up to GBP 1.8K on annual utility bills. However, with installation costs averaging over GBP 13K and complex credit regulations preventing existing lenders from financing installations, heat pumps are out of reach for the majority of households.
David Leviseur and Alex Godsell co-founded Fornax to change this circumstance. Leveraging their expertise in physical, financial, and data engineering, they created technology that reduces the cost of installation by over GBP 1K and then spreads the remaining cost out for customers with a unique pay-monthly lease product. Starting at GBP 60 per month, a homeowner receives a heat pump, with servicing and breakdown cover included, enabling them to save money on their bills and emit 24 tons of carbon emissions less than their current fossil fuel boiler over its life.
Alex Godsell and David Leviseur, Fornax Co-Founders, are on a mission to revolutionize heat energy in the UK with their affordable, energy-saving heat pumps.
GridShare’s Solar Energy Farms in Italy
GridShare is revolutionizing another renewable solution: solar energy. Similar to heat pumps, the transition to solar energy is inaccessible for many retail customers due to high upfront installation costs of EUR 2K per kW, restrictions for renters, and the dominance of large investment firms.
Together, Giovanni Maria Antignani and Riccardo Santoro created an accessible, risk-free alternative. They co-founded GridShare, which sources, builds, and maintains solar farms. They invite individuals to invest in shares at a flexible and affordable price of approximately EUR 900 per kW. Unlike traditional products, investing with GridShare does not have geographic limitations or require changes to existing energy suppliers.
GridShare’s 1 MW plant in Sicily lowers the barriers to advancing solar energy by inviting individuals to invest in shares at a flexible and affordable price.
In addition to lowering barriers to entry through affordability, BNS, Fornax, and GridShare drive long-term adoption of sustainable solutions by maximizing the value of their products and services. They do this by offering ongoing cost savings, extending the lifecycle, and outperforming traditional products or services, all of which maximize environmental and financial benefits through reduced waste and infrequent replacements and/or maintenance.
BNS customers save on raw material purchases and waste management, generating additional profits. Their pesticide spray is what enabled Estuardo Masias, CEO at La Calera Group, the largest citrus producer in Peru, to scale his world-class fruit business. As a BNS customer since 2021, the chemical-free spray enhanced the quality of fruits, such as mandarins, oranges, and limes. His products now sell in several of the most important global destination markets, including Colombia, Spain, the UK, and the US.
Fornax also collaborates closely with its customers over the 10+ year heat pump lifecycle, doubling their lifetime customer value by building out whole-home energy systems, such as a battery bolt-on to their heat pump subscription and switching the customer’s tariff to the optimal one for their individual energy profile.
For renewable heat energy, few may realize that, in addition to reduced costs, Fornax’s heat pumps work better than other systems. David shares that post-installation surveys reveal customers report “their home is more comfortable than before.”
Within solar energy, GridShare customers are seeing success and doubling their investment amounts, from an initial average of EUR 2K to EUR 4.2K. They earn ongoing revenue from the sale of energy produced and can choose from flexible options for dividend distribution. Customers also receive a tax rebate of up to 30% after their initial investment, can hedge on energy bill price increases, and can keep the asset even if they move.
The value GridShare creates for its members doesn’t end there. Today, its community of 3,000 members and over 400 investors gathers in a unique digital space for an extended period of over 30 years, gaining access to affiliate deals, stakeholder networks, and tailored advice and best practices.
BNS, Fornax, and GridShare continuously improve their business models and solutions through data-driven insights. Working closely with customers is key to developing a continuous feedback loop and, subsequently, long-term relationships based on trust and loyalty. Additionally, the agile nature of startups lets them quickly iterate and adapt to market needs, delivering dual fiscally- and environmentally friendly results.
BNS uses data analytics from field tests and laboratory studies to optimize the performance of its products. Furthermore, BNS values customer feedback, integrating it into the development process to adapt and scale solutions that meet specific market needs. Their impressive results to date amount to nearly 70,000 kg of fruit peels recycled by 2024, reducing over 4,500 metric tons of CO₂ emissions in five countries.
Fornax also collects data from their heat pumps over the 5 to 12-year term of the leases. Intense underwriting analytics and AI agentic assess risks, optimize system design, and reduce installation and operating costs further, delivering a compounding pricing advantage to the business (and lower monthly costs to customers) over time. Fornax’s initial product is already more than doubling conversions among homeowners considering a heat pump and actually purchasing one, boosting heat pump uptake across the UK.
The Fornax team installs a new heat pump in a residential home in the UK.
GridShare’s platform allows users to track their environmental impact, including the CO₂ emissions avoided for every kWh of renewable energy produced, enabling them to see firsthand the impact of their investment. The company also engages directly with ⅔ of its members, collecting real-time feedback to provide new additional services. The early success of their platforms foreshadows their evolution into hubs for renewable behavior, connecting users with commercial partners, community-led initiatives, and green incentives, like EV discounts.
BNS, Fornax, and GridShare are demonstrating that sustainability can be affordable, valuable, and customizable simultaneously. As widespread adoption of these solutions continues to gain momentum, the potential for impact is boundless. Investing in startups like BNS, Fornax, and GridShare is critical to reach this potential.
At Village Capital, we help scale climate-focused startups focused on increasing access to sustainable solutions through programs like Sustainability Subscribed Europe and Greentech Europe. Learn about ways to support them here.
