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Reonic raises €13 million to help small installers of green technologies such as heat pumps and solar panels

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Reonic founders

European regulators are pushing for greener energy. The REPowerEU plan calls for 10 million more heat pumps by 2027, and solar panels are also on the rise.

However, most installations are performed by small corporations that might increase efficiency through higher work processes.

This is where the German startup was born Rheonic is available in. “We give renewable installers the tools to be extremely efficient, and we do that primarily by providing them with scheduling and workflow software,” said co-founder Tristan Menzinger (seated on the proper within the photo above).

Menzinger, Lars-Manuel Schneider (seated in the center within the photo above) and their fellow student and third co-founder Udo Sill worked at a research institute investigating the use of renewable energy sources. This piqued their interest in founding Reonic, but they’d to listen to real customers to bridge the gap between theory and knowledge. They concluded that installers needed comprehensive software, not separate tools.

Startups in other sectors have come to similar conclusions, but it could be a troublesome sell when your target market is already set of their ways. Reonic guarantees it’ll be price it by helping installers sell faster and sell more. “The ability to combine heat pumps with solar systems, for example, doubles sales volume,” Schneider said.

Unlike some competitors with narrower niches like solar, Reonic focuses on renewable energy as an entire, whether it’s photovoltaics, battery storage systems, wall boxes or heat pumps. Beyond a selected type of installation, the larger goal they see is for each household or business to change into energy self-sufficient, Schneider said. “And that’s something at the core of our product that always works the same way, no matter where we are.”

The promise of accelerating the adoption of renewable energy sources is clearly resonating with investors; in a bid to expand across Europe, Reonic just raised €13 million in a Series A funding round led by Northzone, with participation from existing investors Point Nine and Puzzle Ventures.

This is consistent with enterprise capitalists’ preference for climate-focused startups, which, when entering the market, expose themselves to market risk relatively than the scientific risk related to inventing a brand new technology.

Even then, the market risk remains to be real. Aurora Solar, a U.S. company that gives software that helps solar installers manage sales, laid off 20% of its staff of about 500 earlier this 12 months after losing $523 million.

But with 21 team members and €16 million in funding, Reonic is more like smaller corporations like Arch, EnerfloLun and Solar Spoon.

Image sources: Rheonic

The company can also be seeing growth typical of early-stage corporations which have found product-market fit, tripling its recurring revenue previously six months, the corporate said. “While we’ve had real momentum since we launched three years ago, we honestly feel like we’re just getting started,” Schneider said.

While subsidies and other regulatory frameworks vary by country, Reonic’s internationalization is being driven by its founders’ belief that it could enter latest markets without much customization. After the DACH region, the corporate entered the market in France and also held a soft launch in Italy, said Menzinger, who oversaw much of the method.

The company remains to be headquartered in Augsburg, Bavaria, but almost half of its staff is predicated in Berlin, where a second office opened earlier this 12 months to help recruit international talent. It’s one other major expansion that the brand new round of funding will fund.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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MIT Develops Recyclable 3D-Printed Glass Blocks for Construction Applications

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MIT develops recyclable 3D-printed glass blocks for construction

The use of 3D printing has been praised as an alternative choice to traditional construction, promising faster construction times, creative design and fewer construction errors, all while reducing the carbon footprint. New research from MIT points to an interesting latest approach to the concept, involving the usage of 3D-printed glass blocks in the form of a figure eight, which may be connected together like Lego bricks.

The team points to glass’s optical properties and “infinite recyclability” as reasons to pursue the fabric. “As long as it’s not contaminated, you can recycle glass almost infinitely,” says assistant professor of mechanical engineering Kaitlyn Becker.

The team relied on 3D printers designed by Straight line — is itself a spin-off of MIT.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Introducing the Next Wave of Startup Battlefield Judges at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

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Announcing our next wave of Startup Battlefield judges at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024

Startup Battlefield 200 is the highlight of every Disrupt, and we will’t wait to search out out which of the 1000’s of startups which have invited us to collaborate can have the probability to pitch to top enterprise capitalists at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. Join us at Moscone West in San Francisco October 28–30 for an epic showdown where everyone can have the probability to make a major impact.

Get insight into what the judges are in search of in a profitable company as they supply detailed feedback on the evaluation criteria. Don’t miss the opportunity to learn from their expert insights and discover the key characteristics that result in startup success, only at Disrupt 2024.

We’re excited to introduce our next group of investors who will evaluate startups and dive into each pitch in an in-depth and insightful Q&A session. Stay tuned for more big names coming soon!

Alice Brooks, Partner, Khosla Ventures

Alicja is a partner in Khosla’s ventures interests in sustainability, food, agriculture, and manufacturing/supply chain. She has worked with multiple startups in robotics, IoT, retail, consumer goods, and STEM education, and led mechanical, electrical, and application development teams in the US and Asia. She also founded and managed manufacturing operations in factories in China and Taiwan. Prior to KV, Alice was the founder and CEO of Roominate, a STEM education company that helps girls learn engineering concepts through play.

Mark Crane, Partner, General Catalyst

Mark Crane is a partner at General Catalysta enterprise capital firm that works with founders from seed to endurance to assist them construct corporations that may stand the test of time. Focused on acquiring and investing in later-stage investment opportunities equivalent to AuthZed, Bugcrowd, Resilience, and TravelPerk. Prior to joining General Catalyst, Mark was a vice chairman at Cove Hill Partners in Massachusetts. Prior to that, he was a senior associate at JMI Equity and an associate at North Bridge Growth Equity.

Sofia Dolfe, Partner, Index Ventures

Sofia partners with founders who use their unique perspective and private understanding of the problem to construct corporations that drive behavioral change, powerful network effects, and transform entire industries, from grocery and e-commerce to financial services and healthcare. Sofia can also be one of Index projects‘ gaming leads, working with some of the best gaming corporations in Europe, making a recent generation of iconic gaming titles. He spends most of his time in the Nordics, but works with entrepreneurs across the continent.

Christine Esserman, Partner, Accel

Christine Esserman joined Acceleration in 2017 and focuses on software, web, and mobile technology corporations. Since joining Accel, Christine has helped lead Accel’s investments in Blackpoint Cyber, Linear, Merge, ThreeFlow, Bumble, Remote, Dovetail, Ethos, Guru, and Headway. Prior to joining Accel, Christine worked in product and operations roles at multiple startups. A native of the Bay Area, Christine graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a level in Finance and Operations.

Haomiao Huang, Founding Partner, Matter Venture Partners

Haomiao from Venture Matter Partners is a robotics researcher turned founder turned investor. He is especially obsessed with corporations that bring digital innovation to physical economy enterprises, with a give attention to sectors equivalent to logistics, manufacturing and transportation, and advanced technologies equivalent to robotics and AI. Haomiao spent 4 years investing in hard tech with Wen Hsieh at Kleiner Perkins. He previously founded smart home security startup Kuna, built autonomous cars at Caltech and, as part of his PhD research at Stanford, pioneered the aerodynamics and control of multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles. Kuna was part of the Y Combinator Winter 14 cohort.

Don’t miss it!

The Startup Battlefield winner, who will walk away with a $100,000 money prize, can be announced at Disrupt 2024—the epicenter of startups. Join 10,000 attendees to witness this breakthrough moment and see the next wave of tech innovation.

Register here and secure your spot to witness this epic battle of startups.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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India Considers Easing Market Share Caps for UPI Payments Operators

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phonepe UPI being used to accept payments at a road-side sunglasses stall.

The regulator that oversees India’s popular UPI rail payments is considering relaxing a proposed market share cap for operators like Google Pay, PhonePe and Paytm because it grapples with enforcing the restrictions, two people accustomed to the matter told TechCrunch.

The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which is regulated by the Indian central bank, is considering increasing the market share that UPI operators can hold to greater than 40%, said two of the people, requesting anonymity because the knowledge is confidential. The regulator had earlier proposed a 30% market share limit to encourage competition within the space.

UPI has change into the most well-liked option to send and receive money in India, with the mechanism processing over 12 billion transactions monthly. Walmart-backed PhonePe has about 48% market share by volume and 50% by value, while Google Pay has 37.3% share by volume.

Once an industry heavyweight, Paytm’s market share has fallen to 7.2% from 11% late last yr amid regulatory challenges.

According to several industry executives, the NPCI’s increase in market share limits is more likely to be a controversial move as many UPI providers were counting on regulatory motion to curb the dominance of PhonePe and Google Pay.

NPCI, which has previously declined to comment on market share, didn’t reply to a request for comment on Thursday.

The regulator originally planned to implement the market share caps in January 2021 but prolonged the deadline to January 1, 2025. The regulator has struggled to seek out a workable option to implement its proposed market share caps.

The stakes are high, especially for PhonePe, India’s Most worthy fintech startup, valued at $12 billion.

Sameer Nigam, co-founder and CEO of PhonePe, said last month that the startup cannot go public “if there is uncertainty on regulatory issues.”

“If you buy a share at Rs 100 and value it assuming we have 48-49% market share, there is uncertainty whether it will come down to 30% and when,” Nigam told a fintech conference last month. “We are reaching out to them (the regulator) whether they can find another way to at least address any concerns they have or tell us what the list of concerns is,” he added.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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