Tado: Munich smart home startup receives 43 million euros

Consumers’ need to save due to the energy crisis means that Tado’s sales are booming. Now the supplier of heating thermostats has won new investors – and wants to become profitable.

The Munich startup Tado has obtained new money from investors. A total of 43 million euros was raised in a round of financing, as founder Christian Deilmann told the Handelsblatt. The Swedish sustainability fund Trill Impact and Kiko Ventures from London, Swisscanto and Bayern Kapital – the Free State’s venture capital company – invested. The sum with which the investors value the startup was not communicated. A year ago, the valuation was still over 400 million euros.

The startup is one of the German pioneers in the smart home sector. Founded in 2011, Tado offers intelligent heating thermostats. The devices are connected to the Internet and can be controlled either via app or voice assistant. The technology recognizes, for example, whether the occupants are in the house or whether the windows are open. According to the company, the devices are in use in more than 400,000 buildings and households in 20 countries.

Sales of thermostats probably doubled

Especially in the past three years, the business of the Munich company has proven to be profitable. Initially, the startup benefited from the fact that many people spent more time at home during the corona pandemic and wanted to optimize their heating costs. This trend intensified again with the energy crisis resulting from the Ukraine war. “We benefit from the high energy prices,” Deilmann told Handelsblatt. Sales are said to have been around 100 million euros last year – double the figure for the previous year.

Tado co-founder Christian Deilmann assumes that the boom will continue. The pace of growth should also be maintained in 2023, and the startup is also aiming for a step into the profit zone. Then they want to consider an IPO again – a first attempt at a SPAC failed last year. It was heard from corporate circles that Tado and the Spac owners could not agree on an assessment.