15 Women-Led Startups Selected to Join Village Capital’s Greentech Europe 2023 Program

London, UK (October 13, 2023) – Village Capital, with support from Visa Foundation, has selected 15 Europe-based startups to participate in the second cohort of the Greentech Europe 2023 program. 

This cohort is part of a unique initiative backing women-led ventures tackling European climate change. It is similarly supported by an all-female advisory board dedicated to enhancing the participation and funding of women-led startups across the region. Over the past two years, the program has channeled a total investment of US $425,000 into 37 women-led sustainability startups spanning 17 European countries. 

Selected from a diverse pool of 85 startups from 17 countries who sought to join the accelerator, this cohort comprises 15 startups from Germany, France, Lithuania, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the UK, who join the region’s thriving community of over 100 Greentech startups.

Meet the 15 sustainability startups developing solutions to address climate change across Europe:

• FarmOn (Amsterdam, Netherlands) provides trusted independent farming advice anytime and anywhere.
• Granyt Limited (London, UK) is a technology-led, specialist, alternative lender providing loans for the single purpose of helping SMEs buy and install climate transition hardware using capital provided by sustainability-focused investment funds.
• 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.
• Measure & Change (Växjö, Sweden) extracts data directly from business systems and calculates carbon emissions automatically.
• Mimicrete (Cambridge, UK) is an advanced materials science startup developing novel self-healing concrete.
• Parallel Carbon (Manchester, UK) develops the world’s most capital-efficient direct air carbon capture technology, providing hope in the face of climate fear.
• Pina Earth (Munich, Germany) is an online platform for European forest owners to develop certified forest carbon projects.
• PlanetAI Space (Barcelona, Spain) discovers and measures the attribution and impact of greenhouse gases in the planet's ecosystems using state-of-the-art satellite technology, astrophysics, machine learning, and computational chemistry.
• 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.
• Sirius (Amsterdam, Netherlands) builds a sustainability copilot for the metals and mobility sector critical for the energy transition to transform goals into tangible actions. 
• SOLIDU (Vilnius, (Lithuania) creates ethical, innovative, and waterless beauty products in 100% backyard-compostable boxes.
• The Octopus Club (UK, London) is a secondhand peer-to-peer marketplace to buy and sell maternity, baby, and children’s items, including clothing, toys, and accessories.
• ValueCo (Paris, France) aims to explicitly integrate environmental, social, and human criteria into company performance and market valuations.
• WEO (Luxembourg, Luxembourg) provides unbiased environmental analytics for all using data from space and AI.
• xtonnes (UK, London) enables product-led businesses to decarbonize using carbon action software.

The selected startups will benefit from a wide range of support, including expert training, advice, mentorship, and network support from potential regional strategic partners, investors, and fellow founders. The startups will also connect one-on-one with an investment analyst for feedback and support to improve their investment readiness. At the end of the program, startups will have an opportunity to receive $125,000 collectively in grant funding to further scale their solutions.

For more information, reach out to 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.