Greentech 2024_Europe for document

13 Women-Led Sustainability Startups Receive USD 130K Investment From Village Capital’s Greentech Europe Program

London, UK (December 4, 2024) – Village Capital has announced that the 15 women-led startups participating in the Autumn 2024 cohort of the Visa Foundation-backed Greentech Europe program will receive a total of USD 130K in equity-free grants to advance their impactful climate solutions. 

This marks the second cohort of the year and the sixth since the program’s inception in 2022. Over the past three years, the Greentech Europe initiative has supported the growth of more than 200 women-led startups across 25 countries in the region, providing critical resources such as tailored training, mentorship from leading climate experts, access to a network of investors and industry professionals, and non-dilutive grant funding. To date, the program has granted a total of USD 800K, reinforcing its commitment to advancing gender equity and fostering climate innovation.

The total investment of USD 130K will be distributed across the entire cohort, with funding decisions made through Village Capital’s peer-selection process. This innovative bottom-up approach allows entrepreneurs to assess each other's startups based on investment readiness, ensuring that funding is allocated to the startups deemed most promising by their peers.

Here are the top two peer-selected startups, awarded USD 25K each:

  • Carbon Cell (London, UK) is making polystyrene waste a thing of the past by providing a sustainable alternative to traditional polymer-based foams. The high-performance expandable foam is fully compostable and locks in carbon for centuries.
  • HaPPE Earth (Cork, Ireland) is the world's first complete on-site bio-digestion system for healthcare services. It combines compostable personal protective equipment (PPE) products with food waste, converting them into valuable pathogen-safe, nutrient-rich fertilizer.

Meet the startup awarded USD 20K each:

  • SCALE Advanced Biocomposites  (Les Adrets, France) develops new bio-based materials to decarbonize and replace carbon fiber in the sporting, automotive, and aviation industries. 

Here are the startups awarded USD 10K each:

  • Alage Scope  (Letchworth Garden City, UK) creates seaweed-based materials to replace harmful PFAS chemicals and toxins and develop a regenerative circular economy.
  • Resilient  (Paris, France) enables large industrial groups to manage their climate change adaptation strategies through their platform.

Meet the startups awarded USD 5K each:

  • Neworn GmbH (Vienna, Austria) is a sustainable marketplace for baby and children's clothing, fostering a community-driven platform that promotes eco-conscious parenting while reducing clothing waste.
  • SIEve srls (Bergamo, Italy) provides an all-in-one regenerable filter for advanced wastewater treatment that helps companies treat wastewater according to the regulations through a modular and simple plant.
  • Greendur (Noain, Spain) focuses on industrial decarbonization through high-efficiency and innovative thermal energy storage systems.
  • SmartShift Energy (London, UK) maximizes energy cost savings for people by enabling them to take advantage of time-of-use pricing while supporting the transition to 100% renewable energy.
  • Trashify  (Tallinn, Estonia) digitizes waste management processes by leveraging AI's power as a waste analytics platform to help propel organizations toward a circular economy.
  • Ecolens Limited (London, UK) is an AI platform that helps building owners, tenants, and facilities managers save energy, cut costs, and reduce carbon through automated energy assessments and recommendations for building optimization and retrofits.
  • Mardeca (Berlin, Germany) removes systemic obstacles to maritime efficiency and decarbonization. 
  •  Revive Battery  (Amsterdam, Netherlands) provides lead batteries with a second life through regeneration while also offering battery monitoring and passport services.

Together with the Visa Foundation, Village Capital remains steadfast in its commitment to bridging the gender financing gap and advancing sustainability innovations that deliver enduring environmental impact.

For more information or to arrange an interview with any of the startups or program team members, contact Eva Waweru at Village Capital at 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 in the region. VilCap has supported more than 160 startups from all over Europe, working in sectors such as climate change, data privacy, financial health, and refugee tech. 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.