Thriving Communities: Climate Resilience US is an investment-readiness program designed to support ten startups addressing the growing environmental challenges across the US.
Donor Name: Village Capital
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Program
Deadline: 05/09/2025
Size of the Grant: Not Available
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
With support from Hewlett Packard Enterprise Foundation (HPEF) and Salesforce, the initiative fosters place-based innovators developing solutions that support climate resilience and uplift low-income communities. At the end of the program, two startups will be eligible for investment.
The solutions this program aims to support should:
- Advance the Sustainable Economy
- Introduce new technologies or processes that reduce environmental impact, improve resource efficiency, and foster sustainability.
- Enhance Community Climate Adaptation
- Deploy affordable, clean energy solutions in low-income communities, strengthen grid resiliency, and reduce the energy burden for households most affected by climate change.
- Incorporate Ethical and Sustainable AI
- Implement AI solutions that adhere to ethical principles – ensuring systems are privacy-enabled, human-focused, inclusive, and robust while upholding transparency, accountability, and explainability.
- Promote Smart and Sustainable Cities
- Develop urban innovations that integrate smart infrastructure, digital data, and sustainable practices to optimize resource management and increase energy efficiency.
Benefits
- Exposure
- Visibility on Village Capital’s program website and other communications collateral.
- Funding
- At least two participants will be eligible for investment to further scale their solutions.
- Interactive Workshops
- Tailored to help startups identify early milestones and secure capital to support their business, including enhancing the alignment between their capital and growth strategies.
- Mentorship and Networking
- Opportunities to network and receive mentorship from investors, strategic partners, founders, and industry leaders.
- Milestone Development Plans
- Each entrepreneur will create their own milestone development plan towards investment readiness, growth, and impact utilizing Abaca, Village Capital’s online milestone tracking tool.
- Peer-to-Peer Learning and Evaluation
- Village Capital’s signature approach to shifting power dynamics in investment decisions by placing entrepreneurs at the center of the due diligence process.
- Stipends for Travel
- Stipends will cover travel to and from the In-person Program Summit in Chicago.
- Tailored Investment Analyst Support
- 1:1 support by a dedicated Investment Analyst for every startup focused on building a financial model, identifying unit economics, and using financial metrics to drive their business and investor diligence.
Eligibility Criteria
Eligibility requirements include:
- Have legal incorporation as a for profit entity, including B-Corp certified companies.
- Be headquartered or with operations in the United States.
- Have a market-based solution that directly tackles one or more of the challenges below.
- Have a minimum viable product (MVP) and raised less than USD 1.5M in equity.
- Have at least one full-time founder based in the US.
- Have meaningful customer or business validation (not limited to revenue, it can also be successful pilot studies, number of users, and/or strategic partnerships).
For more information, visit Village Capital.
