Sonnenbatterie raises €7.5M Series B from Munich Venture Partners, Chrysalix SET and Ecapital
Sonnenbatterie raises €7.5M in their Series B financing round from the co-investors Munich Venture Partners, Chrysalix SET and Ecapital. The Bavarian startup sold over 4.000 smart energy storage systems and is one of the fastest growing smart green startups in Germany. We like Sonnenbatterie since their first pitch at Ecosummit Düsseldorf 2012. In January 2013, Ecapital invested €3M in the Series A. At ECO13 Berlin, Sonnenbatterie won Ecosummit Award 2013 Bronze and Philipp Schröder, now at Tesla, performed a great pitch. Sonnenbatterie also joined our first Ecosummit London 2013. In March 2014, we co-hosted our first Ecosummit Advisor Workshop in the energy village Wildpoldsried. Among our advisors were Martin Kröner (MVP) and Rene Savelsberg (Chrysalix SET) and, as you can see, they went home more impressed than ever before. At ECO14 Berlin, Sonnenbatterie won Ecosummit Award 2014 Gold and Benjamin Schott jumped on stage. At ECO14 London, Christoph Ostermann pitched again after we enjoyed an incredible sponsor dinner at Home House and then got lost in London’s taxi underground. Now it is time to celebrate before doubling annual production and revenues in the years to come. Long live Sonnenbatterie and very big the exit shall be.
Read morePhilipp Schroeder presents Tesla on its way to the most valuable car company in the world
Ecosummit TV: This year Ecosummit partnered with Tesla Motors to provide Model S test drives and first-hand insight into the automotive future invented in California. Following a 100% electric strategy since its foundation in 2003, Tesla forces the big automakers to accelerate their electric transformation, too. In February, Philipp Schroeder joined Tesla from Sonnenbatterie and now manages sales and business development in Germany and Austria. At ECO14 Berlin, Philipp agreed that Tesla is on its way to become the most valuable car company in the world. When we wrote about the super hero of the smart green economy in May 2011, Tesla was valued at $2.6B. Now it has a market cap of $30.6B and expects to deliver 33.000 cars to its customers in 2014. BMW, the German car maker with the strongest electric mobility strategy thanks to the purpose built EVs i3 and i8 and the inhouse carbon fiber production, is valued at $60.3B delivering 2 million cars this year (BMW investor presentation Nov 2014). When Tesla’s Model III, priced at $35.000, starts racing against the BMW 3 series in 2017, we will find out quickly how car drivers really think when making their next purchase decision.
Read moreChristoph Ostermann pitches Sonnenbatterie from Wildpoldsried
Ecosummit TV: Christoph Ostermann pitches Sonnenbatterie at ECO13 London. The solar battery integrates energy storage with residential PV systems. The intelligent storage solution has got a built-in smart meter that enables the management of local energy production and consumption. By using a mobile app the houseowner decides whether to feed-in or directly consume the homemade electricity. Sonnenbatterie is backed by eCapital and their sales curve looks beautiful. Founded in 2010, Sonnenbatterie launched in 2011 and enjoys €11M revenues in 2013. At ECO13 Berlin, Sonnenbatterie won the Ecosummit Award Jury Bronze medal in recognition of their outstanding business potential. In our opinion, Christoph and his team of Bavarian grid parity surfers are one of the hottest cleantech startups in Germany.
Read morePhilipp Schroeder pitches Sonnenbatterie from Bavaria
Ecosummit TV: Philipp Schroeder pitches Sonnenbatterie at Ecosummit Berlin 2013. The German cleantech startup is actually called Prosol Invest Deutschland but the brand they are building is Sonnenbatterie. The smart green product they make and sell like hotcakes is the Tesla of residential energy storage. The solar battery is a smart storage solution with a built-in smart meter that you connect to your PV system and the Internet to actively manage your local energy production and consumption. By using a mobile app the homeowner may easily decide whether to feed-in or consume the homemade electricity. Sonnenbatterie is backed by eCapital and their sales curve has the shape that makes VCs very happy. Founded in 2010, Sonnenbatterie launched in 2011 and has already got €15M in their order book in 2013, with 6 more months to go. At ECO13 Berlin, Sonnenbatterie won Ecosummit Award Jury Bronze in recognition of their business potential and milestones reached. We expect a busy phone line with calls from late stage cleantech VCs trying to get in.
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