11 Women-led Sustainability Startups Receive $125,000 Investment from the Greentech Europe 2023 Program

London, UK (December 12, 2023) – Visa Foundation and Village Capital announced their latest equity-free investment of US $125K into 11 women-led sustainability as part of the Greentech Europe 2023 program.

Now in its second year, the program has supported over 135 women-led ventures dedicated to developing innovative solutions addressing climate change within and beyond Europe. 

The program has successfully channeled a cumulative investment of US $550K into over 50 women-led sustainability startups spanning 17 European countries, a move that continues to reinforce its commitment to advocate for women-led ventures. 

The participating entrepreneurs immersed themselves in a series of technical workshops, mentorship provided by key climate stakeholders, and investment analysts' coaching, all of which prepared them to assess each other's ventures from an investor's standpoint leveraging Village Capital's renowned evaluation methodology. 

The total investment of US $125K was distributed among all 11 ventures, with allocations ranging from $30K to $5K based on their peer rankings. The 11 startups were awarded as follows: 

The startups that received US $30K are: 

• xtonnes (London, UK) enables product-led businesses to decarbonize using carbon action software.

The startups that received US $25K are: 

• The Octopus Club (London, UK) is a secondhand peer-to-peer marketplace to buy and sell maternity, baby, and children’s items, including clothing, toys, and accessories.

The startup that received US $15K is: 

• Parallel Carbon (Manchester, UK) develops the world’s most capital-efficient direct air carbon capture technology, providing hope in the face of climate fear.

The startups that received US $10K are:

• WEO (Luxembourg, Luxembourg) provides unbiased environmental analytics for all using data from space and AI.
• Seaweed Generation (Glasgow, UK) uses solar-powered autonomous robots to sink Sargassum to depths of more than 4,000 meters, sequestering carbon for 1,000+ years on the deep ocean floor.
• SOLIDU (Vilnius, Lithuania) creates ethical, innovative, and waterless beauty products in 100% backyard-compostable boxes.

The startups that received US $5K are:

• Impacbytes (Amsterdam, Netherlands) bridges the gap between sustainable brands and consumers by making product sustainability data accessible and utilizing network effects to make more sustainable products easier to find.
• PlanetAI Space (Barcelona, Spain) discovers and measures the attribution and impact of greenhouse gasses in the planet's ecosystems using state-of-the-art satellite technology, astrophysics, machine learning, and computational chemistry.
• Sirius (Amsterdam, Netherlands) builds a sustainability copilot for the metals and mobility sector critical for the energy transition to transform goals into tangible actions. 
• FarmOn (Amsterdam, Netherlands) provides trusted independent farming advice anytime and anywhere.
• Measure & Change (Växjö, Sweden) extracts data directly from business systems and calculates carbon emissions automatically.

This program underscores the commitment of Visa Foundation and Village Capital to foster sustainability innovation and promote the pivotal role of women in addressing climate challenges. 

For more information, contact Eva Waweru at Village Capital (eva.waweru@vilcap.com).

About Village Capital 

Village Capital is reinventing the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future. Known for its groundbreaking approaches to supporting founders who are building solutions to emergent social, economic, and environmental challenges, VilCap unlocks critical social and financial capital for early-stage companies to maximize business and impact growth.

Village Capital has operated in Europe since 2016 by running over 12 accelerator programs for European entrepreneurs from more than 25 countries. VilCap has supported more than 160 startups within the region working in climate change, data privacy, financial health, and refugee-tech sectors. Learn more at www.vilcap.com and follow @villagecapital. 

About Visa Foundation

Visa Foundation seeks to support inclusive economies where individuals, businesses, and communities can thrive. Through grant-making and investing, Visa Foundation prioritizes the growth of gender-diverse and inclusive small and micro businesses. The Foundation also supports broader community needs and disaster response in times of crisis. Visa Foundation is registered in the U.S. as a 501(c)3 entity.