Eur 1 million for Novo

PropTech start-up Novo secures €1 million in a pre-seed round to automate the energy renovation of buildings. The aim is to accelerate the decarbonization of real estate.

Berlin - PropTech startup Novo has successfully closed a pre-seed financing round of 1 million euros. The company aims to accelerate the decarbonization of real estate on a large scale.

The financing round was led by Citizen Capital, a French impact investor, and 2bX, an early-stage investor focused on UrbanTech, participated as co-lead. Antler, a global VC investor, and a group of angel investors, including Franz De Waal and Kerstin Bock, also invested.

The transition to renewable energy in the construction sector will be the dominant theme in the coming years - both the real estate sector and policy makers will have no choice but to take action on energy renewal to meet EU-wide regulations.

Katharina Lind, Partner at 2bX

Novo focuses on automating and accelerating the complex process of energy renovation of buildings. The company offers services in three steps: Analyzing the current state of the building, creating an energy renovation plan and linking it to subsidies and loans to reduce costs. This service is directly integrated into the systems of partners such as banks and energy providers.

Novo works closely with the Technical University of Berlin to ensure the quality of its technology. The funding will be used to further develop the technology and accelerate automation. The company is already cooperating with financial institutions and energy providers to reach building owners on a large scale. Partnerships are active in Germany with companies such as DZ Bank and RheinEnergie.

The founding team's determination to accelerate climate protection in the real estate sector across Europe impressed us and made supporting Novo an obvious choice.

Olivier Mougenot, Partner at Citizen Capital

The European Union has a target to renovate 15% of its building stock by 2030, a significant increase on the current rate of 1% in Germany. Novo's automation is designed to speed up planning for building owners and enable seamless implementation of renovation.Christoph Klink, Partner at Antler, emphasized the importance of Novo and its technology, which could transform the way homeowners manage their energy renovation to reduce emissions.

Julia Wadehn and Mona Hornung, the founders of Novo, bring experience from global technology companies as well as scaling start-ups. Prior to founding Novo, they were involved in leading technology companies backed by various VCs. Novo sits at the intersection of PropTech and ClimateTech, offering a solution that supports the process of energy renovation of buildings in a simple and scalable way.