Furo's $4M Bet: Why Software, Not Batteries, Wins the Energy Game

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-11

Furo (formerly Lumera Energy), a Munich-based energy software company, just closed a €3.44 million ($4 million) funding round. The goal? Improve its software, expand across Europe, and grow the team. The round was led by US investor TQ Ventures. Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners (Sheryl Sandberg's fund), Neo, and CDTM Venture Capital also participated. "Our customers didn't buy a battery to own technology. They bought it to lower their electricity bill," says Lena Sophia Voß, co-founder of Furo. "In one of the most volatile power markets in the world, that's decided by software, not hardware. That's why we founded Furo." Furo started in 2025 as Lumera Energy. The founders—Voß, Leonie Wagner, and Simon Wittner—met during a joint master's program at the Centre for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) of LMU Munich and the Technical University of Munich. ### What Furo Actually Does Furo builds software to control and optimize commercial and industrial battery storage. The platform forecasts power prices and weather up to 48 hours ahead. Then it optimizes storage operation in real time and sells unused capacity on energy markets. Global energy demand from AI data centers is skyrocketing. Energy-intensive industrial companies feel it most—especially in Germany, where electricity prices are already among the highest in the world. Battery storage helps by storing surplus solar or wind power and releasing it when needed. The problem? Most installations still run on rigid, pre-programmed rules. They ignore real-time weather and price changes. Furo's software changes that. It forecasts prices and weather 48 hours out, then decides in real time when a battery charges, discharges, or sells power. The company says customers cut electricity costs by up to 40%. It doesn't sell directly to end customers. Instead, it works through installers, project developers, storage manufacturers, and utilities. Over 800 companies use the platform across 6,000+ sites in Germany and Europe. The platform adapts to each role—from system sizing to asset operation to marketing free capacity. ### Why Volatility Is the Real Problem European and German power markets are among the world's most volatile. The rapid build-out of wind and solar energy drives that. Furo's forecasting module prices in these fluctuations. Static systems remain blind to them. Inflexible energy demand costs industrial companies an estimated $580 billion a year worldwide. The cause isn't renewable energy itself. It's price volatility, high grid fees, load peaks, and inflexible consumption. > "Lena, Leonie and Simon understand the European energy market at an extraordinary level of depth. It's a remarkable example of team-market fit. Together, they bring exceptional technical depth and operational experience in Europe's most complex power market. That's already reflected in the number of projects and the data they've built up. Coupled with a global market for storage flexibility set to multiply in the coming years, we see this as one of the greatest opportunities in Europe and beyond." — Schuster Tanger, co-founding partner at TQ Ventures Earlier this month, Furo announced a partnership with Berlin-based LUOX Energy (the end-customer brand of Lumenaza GmbH). They're launching a combined solution for optimizing commercial and industrial battery storage. In May 2026, the company rebranded from Lumera Energy to Furo. So what's the takeaway? In the energy transition, the smartest money isn't always on hardware. Sometimes it's on the software that makes hardware actually pay off.