Bees & Bears raises €5M to scale embedded finance platform

Climate fintech Bees & Bears has raised €5 million in seed funding from Extantia Capital and Contrarian Ventures, following a €2 million pre-seed round in 2024. The raise comes after the company’s January agreement for a €500 million financing framework with a listed European bank, enabling Bees & Bears to finance about 25,000 solar installations, heat pumps, and battery storage systems over the next two years.

Founded in Berlin in 2023 by Marius Schondelmaier and Jakob von Egidy, Bees & Bears develops embedded-finance solutions for clean-energy technologies. Its platform allows craft installers to offer customers instalment purchases for solar systems, heat pumps, and battery storage directly during consultations.

A 2024 KfW study indicates that 40 per cent of German households cannot afford climate technologies without instalment options. While major digital platforms already provide embedded financing for renewables, many local installers who deliver most deployments lack equivalent tools.

Bees & Bears’ platform enables flexible financing at the point of consultation using real-time credit checks, removing bank detours and paperwork.

The workflow is straightforward. Installers prepare quotes for solar panels, heat pumps, or battery storage and submit customer information online. After automated verification, instalment purchases can be approved immediately, reducing friction and speeding project delivery.

For households, this means access to clean energy without upfront costs or lengthy bank negotiations. For installers, it opens new customer segments and supports faster revenue growth.

We’re building the financing infrastructure that democratises access to climate technologies across Europe. Instalment purchases are becoming the new standard for bringing renewable energy to wider society. Our mission is to enable one trillion euros in sustainable financing,

said Marius Schondelmaier.

The seed funding will support rapid scaling to meet demand, expansion into commercial and industrial segments, and entry into nearby European markets. Bees & Bears also plans to triple its headcount and further strengthen its market position.