Today Berlin-based proptech startup Novo has announced a €1 million pre-seed funding round to speed up the decarbonisation of real estate at scale.
Novo is building technology designed to automate and speed up the complex process of analysis, planning and financing of energy renovation.
It analyses the status quo of the building, provides a comprehensive energy renovation plan for owners and connects to subsidies and loans to reduce renovation costs.
The EU has set the ambitious goal of renovating 15 percent of its building stock until 2030. This requires a much larger speed than the current renovation rate of 1 percent of buildings in Germany.
The automation that Novo provides increases the speed of planning for building owners and, subsequently, a seamless execution of the renovation.
Thus, enabling 35 million buildings in need of energy renovation in the next 6 years to save up to 80 percent of today's carbon emissions.
Novo is already working with large partners, such as financial institutions and energy providers to reach building owners at scale and easily identify, categorise and prioritise buildings in need of renovation.
Partnerships are currently running in Germany with the likes of DZ Bank and RheinEnergie, representing a volume of over 7 million buildings.
Home energy reduction is critical to reduce carbon emissions
Energy renovation of the building stock has become one of the most hotly debated challenges in the fight against climate change.
The German Parliament has been discussing new legislation to reduce carbon emissions in homes, struggled to find a solution and just recently passed new legislation for a new Building and Energy Efficiency Law
Mona Hornung, Co-Founder of Novo, comments:
“Buildings start to be political, as reducing their carbon emissions will be our century's most massive use case. Novo is uniquely placed to bring digital disruption to the sector of energy renovation.
We see building sustainability being a major trend in Europe. Having the support of investors with both an impact and urban tech expertise is a perfect combination to tackle this challenge.”
The round was led by Citizen Capital, and marks their first investment into a German company.
Co-lead was 2bX, the early-stage investor specialising in urban tech. Novo has also secured investment from Antler, one of the most active early-stage global VC firms.
Angel investors participating include Franz De Waal, and Atomico angel investor Kerstin Bock.
Olivier Mougenot, Partner at Citizen Capital, comments:
“We're thrilled to back NOVO’s mission to provide simpler and faster access to much needed home energy renovation. The drive of the founding team to speed up real estate’s climate action across Europe struck us and made supporting Novo an obvious choice”.
The funding will be used to further invest in Novo’s technology and speed up automation.
Lead image: Mona Hornung (left) and Julia Wadehn (right) of Novo. Photo: Uncredited.
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