Munich Startup Furo Just Raised $4M to Cut Your Power Bill

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-11

Here's a fact that might surprise you: most industrial battery storage systems don't actually save as much money as they could. They sit there, charging and discharging on fixed schedules, completely blind to what's happening in the power market. That's the problem Furo just raised $4 million to solve. Furo, a Munich-based energy software company formerly known as Lumera Energy, closed a €3.44 million ($4 million) round led by US investor TQ Ventures. Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners (yes, that's Sheryl Sandberg's fund), Neo, and CDTM Venture Capital also joined in. ### Why Software Beats Hardware in Energy Storage Lena Sophia Voß, co-founder of Furo, put it simply: "Our customers did not buy a battery in order to own a technology, but in order to lower their electricity bill. In one of the most volatile power markets in the world, that is decided by the software, not by the hardware." She's got a point. Germany's electricity prices are among the highest globally, and the rapid build-out of wind and solar has made the market wildly volatile. Most battery installations operate on rigid, pre-programmed rules, ignoring real-time weather and price signals. Furo's platform changes that. It forecasts power prices and weather up to 48 hours ahead, then optimizes battery operation in real time. When prices are low, it charges. When they spike, it releases or sells power. The company claims customers cut electricity costs by up to 40%. > "Lena, Leonie and Simon understand the European energy market at an extraordinary level of depth. It's a remarkable example of team-market fit." — Schuster Tanger, co-founding partner at TQ Ventures ### From Classroom to 6,000 Sites Furo was founded in 2025 by Voß, Leonie Wagner, and Simon Wittner, who met during a joint master's program at the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM) in Munich. They've since built a platform used by over 800 companies across more than 6,000 sites in Germany and Europe. The software isn't sold directly to end customers. Instead, it works through installers, project developers, storage manufacturers, and utilities. It adapts to each role, from system sizing to asset operation to marketing unused capacity in energy trading. ### The $580 Billion Problem Inflexible energy demand costs industrial companies an estimated $580 billion annually worldwide. The culprit isn't renewable energy itself, but price volatility, high grid fees, load peaks, and a lack of consumption flexibility. AI data centers are making things worse, driving up demand and hitting energy-intensive manufacturers hardest. Furo's forecasting module prices in these fluctuations, while static systems remain blind to them. Earlier this month, Furo also announced a partnership with Berlin-based LUOX Energy to launch a combined solution for optimizing commercial and industrial battery storage. And in May 2026, the company rebranded from Lumera Energy to Furo. With this fresh $4 million, Furo plans to further develop its software, expand into more European markets, and grow its team. If you're an industrial company watching your power bill climb, this might be the software you've been waiting for.