Sage & Village Capital award USD $190,000 to founders

Sage and Village Capital have awarded USD $190,000 in grants to 12 entrepreneurs in the second cohort of the Sage Impact Entrepreneurship programme, with funding distributed among founders in the US and Europe.

Eight businesses received grants of between USD $10,000 and USD $50,000 through a pitch competition linked to the programme, while the wider announcement covered 12 grants in total. The awards were presented during the Sage Impact Entrepreneurship Summit, held across Atlanta and London, which brought together founders, investors, mentors and others from the start-up ecosystem.

The second core cohort includes 25 start-ups from the US, the UK and Europe, focused on areas such as waste reduction, circular consumption, sustainable food systems and community resilience.

Recipients were chosen using Village Capital's peer-selection method, under which founders assessed one another against shared business and impact criteria. Companies were reviewed on factors including team, product, value proposition, market and scale.

CIRT, based in Athens, US, and Recovolt, based in Newcastle, UK, were selected as the programme's top two companies. Each received USD $50,000.

WattAir of Atlanta and METZero of Newcastle each received USD $25,000. Four other businesses - Rhino, Tato Labs, Ecoswap and GreenFlip - received USD $10,000 each in audience-decided awards.

CIRT runs a software platform designed to keep materials in use and out of landfill. Recovolt develops infrastructure to neutralise end-of-life electric vehicle batteries at intake so they can be reused or recycled.

Among the other grant winners, WattAir describes itself as a climate technology company that turns low-grade heat and air into clean water. METZero retrofits wastewater treatment sites with a system intended to reduce pollution and energy use.

Rhino, based in San Francisco, operates an insurance brokerage focused on climate-exposed properties that are difficult to insure. Tato Labs is developing potato-based biomaterials intended to replace plastic at source.

In London, Ecoswap uses a digital gift card model to steer consumer spending towards brands with environmental and social aims. GreenFlip works with asset owners and investors on residential energy upgrades using energy and financial modelling.

Joseph Mooney, Co-Founder, WattAir, said: "The Village Capital - Sage Impact Entrepreneurship Program was exactly what I needed as a founder. It brought together a deeply supportive cohort, world-class industrial experts, investors, founders, and a team that pushed us to be ready for our next major milestone. More than anything, being surrounded by such an inspiring group of founders made the highs more meaningful and the lows much easier to navigate."

Backed by Sage Foundation, the programme now supports 111 start-ups, according to the organisers. That figure is part of a target to support 165 high-impact start-ups.

Helen Devanny, Vice President of Sage Foundation, said: "When we first launched the Sage Impact Entrepreneurship Program, we wanted to show that Sage was serious about supporting businesses working at the intersection of sustainability and social impact. Cohort 1 showed us exactly what that could look like in practice, with six businesses receiving grants, all of them continuing to grow with our support. With Cohort 2, we've gone further - backing 57 businesses tackling social, environmental and economic challenges around the world. What excites me most isn't the number of businesses we've supported; it's the depth of what they're building, and the communities they're already changing."

The first cohort included six grant recipients. With the second cohort, the programme has backed 57 businesses addressing social, environmental and economic issues.

Pavlina Theodosiou, CEO, METZero, said: "Like many technical founders, I naturally focus on the technology. One of the biggest shifts for me has been spending more time thinking about the business itself, the business model, growth strategy, investment readiness and how to communicate the opportunity more clearly. The Sage Impact Entrepreneurship Program has allowed me to learn from an incredible cohort of founders who are facing many of the same challenges. I encourage any founder who is serious about growing their business to apply to this program."

Village Capital says its peer-led approach is intended to identify ventures that may be missed by more conventional funding routes. Since 2009, the organisation has supported more than 2,100 impact start-ups in 70 countries, and those founders have raised more than USD $9.6 billion.

Kelly Bryan, Regional Director of the Americas and Europe, Village Capital, said: "Entrepreneurs understand firsthand what it takes to build and grow a company. They recognize the resilience, execution, and potential behind a business in ways that aren't always visible on paper. The founders selected by their peers have already demonstrated strong momentum, and at this stage, grant funding can help them strengthen their foundations, deepen customer adoption, and prepare for their next phase of growth."