Change 100: The one hundred startups shaping the future
· 17 min read
Every year, the question facing the impact ecosystem is not whether bold solutions exist, but whether they get the visibility and support they deserve. Change 100, the list of the one hundred top startups shaping the future, is built to answer that question.
They represent a global field of applicants working on everything from clean energy and climate to education, biodiversity, and food security. Their names are announced today on the green carpet of the ChangeNOW Summit at the Grand Palais in Paris.
illuminem, as one of the world’s most read and respected sustainability platforms, is proud to serve as the exclusive media and knowledge partner of Change 100 and ‘We Make Change’, the curator of this selection. All of the Change 100 founders will be concurrently welcomed in the illuminem Club - where Sustainability Leaders unite.
Meet the one hundred impact startups shaping our future:
🇺🇸 United States | AI-powered courtroom technology to eliminate judicial delays and enable timely justice at scale.
🇺🇸 United States | Converting vacant municipal buildings and infill into affordable, low-carbon workforce housing via adaptive reuse.
🇫🇷 France | Plant-based adire textiles and garments that preserve heritage and enable circular fashion.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Converting CO₂ and battery black mass into carbon-negative, battery-grade graphite and graphene.
🇸🇪 Sweden | Recycling end-of-life composite materials into circular advanced materials for sustainable manufacturing.
🇮🇳 India | Transforming non-recyclable waste into sustainable construction materials, reducing pollution and costs.
🇮🇹 Italy | Recovering critical battery metals using bio-based recycling to solve waste and supply chain crises.
🇺🇸 United States | Forecasting earthquakes days in advance using cosmic ray detection to enable early warning and disaster preparation.
🇲🇦 Morocco | Harnessing ocean wave energy through Wave Beat technology to reduce environmental impact and energy costs for maritime facilities.
🇰🇪 Kenya | Operating mobile dialysis units providing government-reimbursed dialysis and nursing to rural Kenyan patients.
🇺🇸 United States | Replacing animal fur and plastic textiles with plant-based fur and compostable bio-polymers.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | A scalable AI SaaS that maps, quantifies, and mitigates nature-related risks for compliance.
🇫🇷 France | Developing whale fin-inspired propulsion systems to reduce maritime fuel consumption and emissions.
🇫🇷 France | Installing innovative wind deflectors on ships to reduce air drag and fuel consumption.
🇺🇬 Uganda | Affordable neonatal care solutions for low-resource settings.
🇰🇪 Kenya | Intercepting river plastics and converting waste into recycled materials and dignified green livelihoods.
🇹🇳 Tunisia | Converting invasive blue crab shells into biodegradable chitosan and calcium biomaterials replacing petrochemical inputs.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Transforming the rubber industry through circular economy practices and advanced recycling technologies.
🇩🇪 Germany | Making selling items effortless with an AI app, instant offers, pickup, and reseller network.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | 3D-printing nature-inspired reef structures using local materials to restore marine ecosystems and protect coasts.
🇮🇳 India | Enabling schools to identify, support, and track children with special educational needs using AI.
🇯🇴 Jordan | An AI virtual patient simulator for clinical reasoning, examination, diagnosis, management, and feedback.
🇩🇪 Germany | Converting industrial waste and CO₂ into syngas through plasma-reforming for circular production.
🇪🇬 Egypt | Women-only electric scooter ride-hailing, training, and employment for safer, greener urban mobility.
🇮🇹 Italy | Democratizing scalable, AI-driven, sensor-free motor rehabilitation via a clinical platform and certified devices.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Unifying fragmented agricultural data into verified intelligence that rewards regenerative farming and enables sustainable supply chains.
🇫🇷 France | AI tools and anonymized datasets to improve diagnosis for women with pelvic pain.
🇺🇸 United States | Insulated bottles with built-in reusable utensils to reduce single-use plastic waste.
🇨🇭 Switzerland | Building technical, financial, and policy infrastructure to scale fair, high-integrity blue carbon projects.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Transforming locally grown fava beans into delicious spreads that support regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Converting degraded cropland into bamboo greenhouses and agroforests for year-round, climate-resilient food production.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Running commercial tree nurseries on prison land, growing native trees and training prisoners.
🇮🇩 Indonesia | Establishing plastic waste collection systems in underserved communities to prevent ocean pollution at its source.
🇳🇬 Nigeria | Detecting emotional distress early through AI analysis to connect people with timely mental health care.
🇫🇷 France | Extracting battery-grade nickel from plants — a sustainable alternative to environmentally damaging conventional mining.
🇫🇷 France | Transforming last-mile urban commutes with portable electric shoe-mounted glides, reducing time and emissions.
🇺🇸 United States | Connecting businesses with vetted sustainability solutions, funding, and implementation support to reduce waste and operating costs.
🇫🇷 France | Transforming food waste into valuable ingredients through fermentation to reduce environmental impact.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Using AI to analyze retrofit opportunities and calculate ROI for UK homes instantly.
🇺🇬 Uganda | Turning PET bottle waste into affordable, locally manufactured polyester sewing thread, organizing waste collectors.
🇩🇰 Denmark | Enabling unbanked smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa to access credit, markets, and financial services through mobile technology.
🇨🇴 Colombia | Affordable 3D-printed prosthetics and community education in inclusive technology design.
🇨🇳 China | Transforming waste into verified circular assets through integrated collection, recycling, and ESG traceability.
🇫🇷 France | AI-powered ESG infrastructure to help companies structure data, ensure compliance, and measure impact.
🇦🇺 Australia | Delivering free, play-based early learning to underserved families through mobile community programs.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Reusable period bed mats and menstrual education empowering girls while reducing waste.
🇵🇪 Peru | Designing and locally manufacturing affordable AI-driven 3D-printed myoelectric upper-limb prostheses.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Transforming building façades into modular, self-regulating green systems that boost biodiversity and climate resilience.
🇳🇬 Nigeria | Offline AI tutoring through gamified mobile learning for underserved African students.
🇵🇹 Portugal | Lab-grown exotic animal skins for luxury fashion using sustainable biotechnology.
🇫🇷 France | Transforming discarded garments into new products through industrial-scale upcycling technology.
🇫🇷 France | Enabling in-house PCB production using laser technology, eliminating chemical waste and reducing environmental impact.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Deploying AI-driven laser weeding robots to eliminate herbicides and protect soil, water, and yields.
🇺🇸 United States | Redirecting hidden retail margins into verified conservation funding, letting shoppers and brands fund nature.
🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | Modular floating devices that capture evaporation to produce freshwater for irrigation without electricity.
🇺🇬 Uganda | Fast, non-invasive malaria diagnosis using AI-powered devices in resource-limited settings.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Transforming noisy, upstream supply-chain signals into verified, audit-ready evidence of social and environmental harms.
🇺🇸 United States | An Android AI tool that analyzes cervical images to support frontline screening decisions.
🇮🇳 India | StopBleed — a nano-material that rapidly controls bleeding to prevent trauma deaths globally.
🇺🇸 United States | Modular, lower-cost, safer carbon capture removing over 95% of industrial CO₂ emissions.
🇫🇷 France | Quantifying companies' marine risk, mitigating exposure, and financing profitable ocean restoration.
🇲🇽 Mexico | Mapping informal transport routes and providing trip planning data to improve mobility in underserved cities.
🇸🇬 Singapore | An automated handheld device for one-click clinic ear tube insertion, expanding global access.
🇮🇳 India | Empowering students and communities to grow nutritious microgreens while building sustainability and income opportunities.
🇧🇬 Bulgaria | Digital infrastructure helping local communities access environmental finance through transparent ecosystem monitoring and verification.
🇺🇸 United States | Free AI-powered legal resources and community support for low-income Americans.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Connecting parents with vetted wellbeing professionals to support their parenthood journey.
🇯🇵 Japan | Converting pineapple and banana agricultural waste into HYDE pineapple leather for B2B use.
🇱🇻 Latvia | Engineering spider silk-based biomaterials for wound healing, implants, and tissue regeneration.
🇹🇿 Tanzania | Satellite-based climate and crop intelligence helping African farmers make data-driven, climate-resilient agricultural decisions.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Enabling increased renewable natural gas from organic waste using catalysts and live biological sensors.
🇫🇷 France | Eco-friendly industrial panels from fast-growing plants using natural binding processes.
🇨🇭 Switzerland | Making nature-based carbon assets bankable collateral for smallholder farmer loans.
🇳🇴 Norway | Transforming wastewater into recoverable resources through modular, energy-efficient filtration technology.
🇨🇭 Switzerland | IT carbon and water footprint data to help reduce tech's environmental impact.
🇩🇪 Germany | Optimising EV fleet charging to reduce costs, maximise renewable use, and prevent grid overloads.
🇨🇦 Canada | Accessible, evidence-based mobile tools to help people manage anxiety and panic attacks anytime, anywhere.
🇺🇸 United States | Extending fresh produce shelf life using natural compounds to reduce food waste and emissions.
🇨🇩 DR Congo | AI-powered ultrasound screening for pregnant women in remote Sub-Saharan Africa communities.
🇦🇷 Argentina | A satellite- and AI-driven wildfire early-alert platform that detects and prevents fires faster.
🇪🇬 Egypt | AI-powered real-time visual descriptions and document accessibility for blind and visually impaired people.
🇫🇮 Finland | Transforming seaweed and ocean biomass into circular materials replacing fossil-based plastics.
🇸🇬 Singapore | Partnering with communities to collect, trace, and recycle plastic, creating jobs and preventing pollution.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Disinfecting water at the source using salt electrolysis to eliminate plastic waste and waterborne pathogens.
🇱🇦 Laos | Connecting smallholder farmers to climate-smart equipment, sustainable financing, and responsible markets.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Empowering deaf people with choice and control over sign language interpreters for accessible healthcare services.
🇺🇬 Uganda | Transforming waste into clean cooking fuel and efficient stoves to reduce poverty and deforestation.
🇺🇸 United States | Measuring and reducing organisational waste using IoT scales and AI computer vision technology.
🇺🇸 United States | Seaweed-based compostable packaging that replaces plastic while protecting oceans and ecosystems.
🇲🇽 Mexico | Connecting Mexican artisans with B2B buyers to create sustainable economic opportunities and build resilient communities.
🇫🇷 France | AI-powered underwater monitoring systems to protect and restore marine ecosystems.
🇬🇧 United Kingdom | Developing seaweed-based stretch fibres to replace fossil elastane in circular, high-performance garments.
🇪🇬 Egypt | Transforming banana agricultural waste into sustainable textile fibers for circular fashion production.
🇨🇦 Canada | Connecting nonprofit professionals through weekly algorithm-matched 1:1 video "Hive Chats" to network and collaborate.
🇩🇪 Germany | Reusable, mono-material transport packaging and reverse-logistics solutions to cut waste and emissions.
🇺🇸 United States | Integrating emotional literacy training into popular children's shows to build mental health skills through engaging screen time.
🇫🇷 France | Bio-based indigo via precision fermentation to decarbonize denim dyeing using existing infrastructure.
🇲🇽 Mexico | Transforming banana agricultural waste into sustainable cellulose fibers for industrial packaging applications.
🇮🇳 India | Recovering virgin-grade materials from multilayer plastic while formalizing and fairly employing waste-pickers.
🇳🇱 Netherlands | Real-time head and neck cancer detection during routine endoscopy procedures.
The selection criteria are as follows: (1) a startup must demonstrate deep expertise in the problem it seeks to address, (2) present a well-developed solution already showing tangible results, and (3) exhibit the ambition and scalability to extend its impact far beyond its current reach. (4) Each venture must also contribute to advancing at least one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The final selection of startups featured in this list is curated by We Make Change.
Alex Hong
AI · Corporate Sustainability
Diego Balverde
Maritime · Sustainable Business
Diego Balverde
Green Tech · Sustainable Business
The Wall Street Journal
AI · Green Tech
BBC
AI · Corporate Governance
Sustainability Magazine
Sustainable Business · Carbon