Munich Startup Furo Raises $4M to Slash Industrial Energy Bills

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-11

### The $4 Million Bet on Software That Thinks Faster Than Your Battery Munich-based Furo just closed a €3.44 million ($4 million) funding round. The company, formerly known as Lumera Energy, builds software that squeezes every last drop of value out of commercial and industrial battery storage. The round was led by US investor TQ Ventures. Sheryl Sandberg's fund, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, also joined in, along with Neo and CDTM Venture Capital. ### Why Software Beats Hardware in the Energy Game Here's the thing about batteries: buying one doesn't automatically lower your electricity bill. What matters is when you charge it, when you discharge it, and when you sell power back to the grid. "Our customers did not buy a battery in order to own a technology, but in order to lower their electricity bill," said Lena Sophia Voß, co-founder of Furo. "In one of the most volatile power markets in the world, that is decided by the software, not by the hardware. That is exactly why we founded Furo." Furo's platform forecasts power prices and weather up to 48 hours ahead. It then optimizes battery operation in real time based on those forecasts. Any unused capacity gets marketed in energy trading. The result? Customers reportedly cut their electricity costs by up to 40%. ### From a Master's Program to 6,000 Sites Voß founded Furo in 2025 alongside Leonie Wagner and Simon Wittner. The three met during a joint master's program at the Centre for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM), a collaboration between LMU Munich and the Technical University of Munich. Today, more than 800 companies use Furo's platform across over 6,000 sites in Germany and Europe. The software adapts to different roles in the energy chain—from system sizing to asset operation to selling spare capacity in energy markets. Furo doesn't sell directly to end customers. Instead, it works through installers, project developers, storage manufacturers, and utilities. ### The Hidden Cost of Inflexible Energy Global energy demand from AI data centers is skyrocketing. That hits energy-intensive industrial companies hardest, especially in Germany where electricity prices already rank among the world's highest. Battery storage should solve this by storing surplus solar or wind power and releasing it when needed. But most installations still run on rigid, pre-programmed rules. They ignore real-time weather and price signals. According to Furo, inflexible energy demand costs industrial companies an estimated $580 billion a year worldwide. The culprit isn't renewable energy itself—it's price volatility, high grid fees, load peaks, and a lack of consumption flexibility. ### What Investors See in Furo Schuster Tanger, co-founding partner at TQ Ventures, didn't hold back in his praise. "Lena, Leonie and Simon understand the European energy market at an extraordinary level of depth," he said. "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." Tanger added that the global market for storage flexibility is set to multiply in the coming years. "We see this as one of the greatest opportunities in Europe and beyond." ### What's Next for Furo The fresh capital will fuel software development, expansion into more European markets, and team growth. Earlier this month, Furo announced a partnership with Berlin-based LUOX Energy—the end-customer brand of Lumenaza GmbH—to launch a combined solution for optimizing commercial and industrial battery storage. And in May 2026, the company officially rebranded from Lumera Energy to Furo. For industrial companies struggling with high power bills, Furo's pitch is simple: your battery is only as smart as the software running it. And in Europe's volatile energy markets, smart software might be the difference between surviving and thriving.