After finding growth in its home market and Poland, Czech Republic-based Woltair raised venture capital to expand its heat pump and solar PV software platform, used by both installers and homeowners, into Germany and Italy.
June 25, 2024
Czech Republic-based Woltair is expanding into Italy and Germany, after establishing its online heat pump and solar PV business in Czech Republic and Poland. Its growth taps into the residential market’s switch to heat pumps and adoption of rooftop solar. It will enter Germany and Italy after raising a €20.5 million ($22 million) round of venture capital from European and North American investors.
Woltair provides a web-based platform used by homeowning consumers and small and medium-sized installers. Homeowners use Woltair’s country-specific websites to enter their home heating requirements, for example, to get recommendations and prices of heat pumps setups from a variety of manufacturers, while skilled installers use the workflow software, dubbed Superfix, to manage customer orders and installation projects. Buyers and technicians are connected on the platform.
“Together with our investors, we believe that even a topic as complex as the acquisition and installation of heat pumps and photovoltaic systems can be digitized and many process steps on the journey automated to deliver a great experience for both consumers and technicians in the market,” Woltair CEO, Vít Javůrek, told pv magazine. “Our mission is to accelerate the European energy transformation, and heating in particular, in residential buildings by making the process of heat pump adoption as easy, smooth and efficient as possible.”
Consumers can compare a variety of brands and products to find “the best solution” for their house, a feature that differentiates Woltair from platforms that only have a limited number of suppliers, according to Javůrek. The company also provides financing, develops its brand of heat pump, and operates its own warehouses.
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The company reportedly has served over 3,000 customers in the Czech Republic and Poland. It recently raised €20.5 million from existing and new investors, in addition to €16.3 million raised in September 2022. The new capital is to be used to solidify its position in the heat pump and PV supply chains, and to finance expansion into Germany and Italy in the second quarter of this year.
Noting that there might be a need for some “portfolio adaptation”, along with marketing tailored to “local realities and customer needs”, Javůrek said that collaboration in individual markets with local teams will help to steer product development.
The venture capital round was led by U.S.-based investors The Westly Group, an existing investor specialized in cleantech, and Fifth Wall, a new investor specialized in real-estate technologies. Other early investors participated in the round, including early-stage investor KAYA, Czech Republic-based Inven Capital, and Canada’s ArcTern Ventures, a cleantech investor.
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