- Largest German installer for heating systems in 1-2 family homes in 2014
- Thermondo installation teams in 12 German cities
- 30% growth in sales per month in 2014, 140 new hires until year-end
- New capital for nationwide expansion and tripling of IT development capacity
Berlin, April 15th, 2015. Thermondo, pioneer of the digital revolution in the heat solution and installation market, raises capital from new and existing investors from the energy and digital economy: Holtzbrinck Ventures and Rocket Internet become shareholders of Thermondo. The two new investors join E.ON, IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft and Grey Corp. All investors have participated in the current round to the value of six million euros.
Lars Langusch, partner at lead investor Holtzbrinck Ventures: "The team at Thermondo has managed to digitize a very complex craft service to a very high degree. This revolutionary approach combined with impressive growth convinced us to invest."
The company digitizes the process of the HVAC exchange - from lead generation, sales, installation to after-sales. This deep vertical integration leads to market disrupting service quality and an outstanding customer experience.
At www.thermondo.de homeowners enter 15 data points about their current heating system and their future needs. An algorithm matches the customer requirements with solutions and provides quotes in real time. In addition to the algorithm, Thermondo created the largest digital product database with millions of solution packages for gas, oil heating systems and for solar based systems. Fully vertically integrated, locally based teams install the new HVAC system at the customer’s homes. House owners benefit by enjoying an extremely efficient installation process, providing a customized HVAC system – often at prices significantly lower than those of conventional companies.
"Digital energy services will change the energy world fundamentally. Therefore, we have confirmed our investment in Thermondo. The current partnership has shown that both sides can benefit: Thermondo gets access to our online channels and E.ON can offer new digital customer-friendly services. Through the reinvestment in Thermondo we will strengthen our innovation ability", says Susana Quintana Plaza, Senior Vice President of Technology and Innovation at E.ON.
Thermondo is technology-driven along the value chain: Manufacturers and wholesalers are connected via an interface with the IT of Thermondo, which enables just-in-time delivery of the hardware and simplifies the ordering process. Thermondo is an inventory free company. The installation teams are connected with a proprietary Android app, which collects all the relevant information for the preparation and management of the installation. Centralized procurement translates into economies of scale at extremely low transaction costs.
"We are happy to welcome Holtzbrinck Ventures and Rocket Internet as shareholders. Both have shown fantastic success as investors. Together with our diverse group of investors, we will scale Thermondo further, so that thousands of homeowners will enjoy a new and better customer experience", says Philipp Pausder, co-founder and CEO of Thermondo.
The fast growing start up employs 90 people, half at its headquarters in Berlin and the other half in 12 German metropolitan regions. In 2015 more than 140 new hires are planned to support the rapidly growing business.
About Thermondo
Thermondo is a major heating installer in Germany. The company has digitized the processes of changing heating units and changed the dynamics of this business. Customers now get new heating systems delivered faster and at a competitive price. The actual system is based on a process where 15 key data points are controlled by a sophisticated algorithm which delivers a heating solution based upon real rates in real time. In addition to this algorithm, Thermondo has created the largest digital product database with millions of solution packages for gas, oil heating systems and for solar based systems. The process begins with a detailed consultation and is followed by the maintenance professionals fitting the new heating system. Thermondo has an absolute focus on saving money for customers as well as lowering CO² emissions.
About Holtzbrinck Ventures
HV Holtzbrinck Ventures has been investing in Internet, Mobile and Digital Media companies for over fifteen years. During this time, HV Holtzbrinck Ventures have invested in over 120 companies. Today HV Holtzbrinck Ventures is one of Europe`s most successful Venture Capital investors with investments in many successful international Internet companies, including: Zalando; Wooga; Lazada; Global Fashion Group; Groupon; Quandoo; Dreamlines; Flixbus/MeinFernbus; HelloFresh; Westwing; Home24; Delivery Hero; and many others.
About HV Holtzbrinck Ventures
HV Holtzbrinck Ventures has been investing in Internet, Mobile and Digital Media companies for over fifteen years. Today HV Holtzbrinck Ventures is one of Europe`s most successful Venture Capital investors. HV Holtzbrinck Ventures have invested in over 120 businesses, such as Zalando, Wooga, Lazada, Global Fashion Group, Dreamlines, Flixbus/MeinFernbus, HelloFresh, Westwing, Home24, Lendico, Auctionata, Outfittery, and many others.
About Rocket Internet
Rocket's mission is to become the world's largest Internet platform outside of the United States and China. Rocket identifies and builds proven Internet business models and transfers them to new, underserved or untapped markets where it seeks to scale them into market leading online companies. Rocket is focused on online business models that satisfy basic consumer needs across four main sectors: e-Commerce, marketplaces, travel and financial technology. Rocket started in 2007 and has now more than 25,000 employees across its network of companies, which are active in more than 100 countries across six continents. Rocket Internet SE is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ISIN DE000A12UKK6, RKET). For further information visit www.rocket-internet.com.
About E.ON
E.ON is an international privately-owned energy supplier which faces fundamental change: through implementing its new strategy, E.ON will in future be focussing entirely on renewables, energy networks and customer solutions, which are the building blocks of the new energy world. The conventional generation, global energy trading and exploration and production businesses segments are being transferred to a new company which will also be listed. In the 2014 financial year, our staff comprising in excess of more than 58,000 employees based in many countries in Europe as well as in Russia and North America generated sales of around EUR 112 billion. In addition, there are businesses in Brazil and Turkey we manage jointly with partners. Within the renewables segment, we are one of the world's leading companies. Around 33 million customers purchase gas and electricity from E.ON. Our broad electricity generation portfolio comprises around 59 GW of generation capacity. The E.ON Group is run by Group Management in Düsseldorf.
About IBB
The IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft (www.ibb-bet.de) provides innovative Berlin company venture capital to finance and has established itself as the market leader in Berlin in early stage projects. The funds will be used primarily for the development and launch of innovative products or services and business concepts for the creative industries. Since March 2015 two of the IBB investment company managed funds are in the investment phase, the VC FondsTechnologie Berlin II with a fund size of 60 MEUR and VC Fonds Berlin Creative Economy II with a fund size of 40 MEUR. Both funds are financed by funds from the Investment Bank Berlin (IBB) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), managed by the State of Berlin. Since 1997 the IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft Berlin-based creative and technology companies in consortium with partners 1,006 MEUR has made available, which IBB has invested 141 MEUR as co lead investor.
About Grey Corp
The Grey Corp is the investment holding company of the entrepreneur Jan Becker, Andreas Etten and Dr. Robert Wuttke. The three entrepreneurs have set up various companies in the Internet environment as be2, C-Date FriendScout24 or insparx and operate in over 35 countries. In addition, they have supported a number of entrepreneurs in start-ups and have invested in more than 30 companies that offer primarily digital services and technologies for consumers and SMEs. They typically invest in early stage and support the founding team actively build their businesses and subsequent rounds of financing. Examples are::Bonusbox (loyalty platform for online merchants, DE, Brazil, USA), Climate Partner (climate for business), Kreditech (scoring for online lending), Mayvenn (Internet service for stylists, USA), MedX (Diagnostic Platform for doctors), Navinum (algorithm based wine recommendations on the web), Thermondo, Vacatia (trade Sparrow for time-share units, USA). Successful exits were Brands4Friends (sold to Ebay), shopping mile (sold to Axel Springer), mexad (at DataXu).
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