Munich's tado° has been around for a while. Since launch in 2011, tado° has grown market share for its "consumer friendly" smart thermostats, designed to reduce friction by offering compatibility with as many as 95% of European home builds.
The team expects to become profitable sometime this year, and with that in mind, it's closing on another €43 million cash injection provided by investors Trill Impact Ventures, Bayern Kapital, Kiko Ventures, and Swisscanto, among others.
Last year, sales of tado° smart thermostats doubled and there's currently 3 million of them in European homes and commercial spaces.
Equipped with the additional funding, tado° plans to expand product by introducing new features that interplay with time-of-use energy tariffs, for instance adjusting heat consumption for the duration of peak demand. Even with the existing thermostat, customers can apparently save as much as 22% on heating costs.
The market for connected energy management devices is highly competitive, so it makes sense that tado° is looking to evolve and keep its offering fresh to offset competition from younger energy tech rivals.
To drive this product iteration, tado° acquired Austrian startup aWATTar in January 2022. aWATTar specialises in time-of-use energy management and what's known as loadshifting, namely measuring energy demand and reallocating it to off-peak hours.
In addition, tado° is preparing to launch a bespoke smart thermostat for rental homes later this year, working in partnership with real estate managers.
Christian Deilmann, tado°'s co-founder and chief product officer, said: "As the leader in intelligent home climate management, now is the right time to scale a unique energy management offering that will double down on reducing home's heating costs and CO2 emissions.
"We are looking forward to strong partnerships with the newly joined shareholders.”
Commenting from Trill Impact's side of the deal, partner and ventures co-lead Alexander Domin added: "We see tado° as an attractive venture case with strong market and impact timing.
"By leveraging its leadership in smart thermostats to enter the rapidly growing smart energy tariff market, we believe that tado° can enable significant household cost savings, access to renewable energy and CO2 reductions at a crucial time during the ongoing energy and climate crises.
"tado° aligns with Trill Impact’s mission, combining high impact and commercial potential, and we’re looking forward to helping them reach their full potential.”
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