Ostrom receives 4.4 million euros

While high energy prices are making it more difficult for similar providers, the electricity start-up has been able to attract well-known investors.

The Berlin-based start-up Ostrom has raised pre-seed and seed funding totaling 4.4 million euros. The investors included 468 Capital, J12 Ventures, Global Founders Capital and Übermorgen Ventures. Well-known business angels also invested money. These included investor Philipp Klöckner, Soundcloud co-founder Eric Quidenus-Wahlforss, Gorillas co-founder Jörg Kattner, the Global CMO of Hellofresh Maximilian Backhaus, Tourlane CEO Julian Weselek, the Moss Founder Team consisting of Ante Spittler, Anton Rummel, Ferdinand Meyer and Stephan Haslebacher as well as the well-known influencer Diana zur Löwen.

Ostrom is a digital green energy provider headquartered in Berlin and aims to make the switch to green energy easier, more affordable and more transparent. Since Ostrom was launched in May 2021, the company has achieved monthly growth of more than 100 percent and claims to have a "negligible churn rate". Ostrom is available throughout Germany and has customers in over 400 cities and municipalities. The company has been taken on by over 150 other energy suppliers.

What is particularly remarkable about the investment round is that, at first glance, it was concluded at the worst possible time: Energy prices in Germany have recently risen rapidly. This has caused major problems for some energy providers: smaller providers in particular have to buy electricity at high prices. However, as they have often contractually assured their customers that they will not increase prices, they cannot pass the costs on to them. For example, the Oldenburg-based company Kehag Energiehandel recently had to file for insolvency. However, Ostrom's investors state that they still believe "in the long-term potential of the energy transition". It is now becoming clear that a "digital disruption" is needed in the energy industry. "Closing our seed round in the middle of the energy crisis (...) shows the progressive thinking of our investors," says co-founder Matthias Martensen.