Germany’s encentive is using its recently raised €6.3 million to cut industrial energy costs by up to 20%

In its latest Seed round, Hamburg-based software company encentive has raised €6.3 million in fresh capital with its AI-driven platform that reportedly helps industries cut energy costs by up to 20% and reduce CO2 emissions.

The round was led by global investor General Catalyst and other existing investors. The funding will be used to expand their platform to connect to even more industrial assets, unlock new markets, and strengthen its technological leadership.

“Rising energy costs and mounting decarbonisation pressure are challenges faced by almost every industrial company today. Businesses unable to flexibly and intelligently manage their energy flows and adapt to the volatility and fluctuating prices of renewables are already putting their competitiveness at risk.

“Our solution enables companies to harness the economic potential of flexibility without interfering with existing processes. In doing so, our clients safeguard themselves against economic uncertainty and location disadvantages in the long term,” explains Torge Lahrsen, COO of encentive.

Industry is the world’s largest energy consumer and therefore a decisive lever for achieving a climate-neutral future. The electrification of industrial processes, which is essential for this transition, is further driving up electricity demand. At the same time, the expansion of renewables is making power supply and prices increasingly volatile.

In this environment, the ability to actively harness flexibility is becoming a key lever for the future of industry.

Founded in 2019, ecentie provides a solution that aims to reduce energy costs and emissions in industry. The company’s AI-based energy management platform automatically optimises electricity consumption so that companies use energy precisely when it is green and cheap.

The core element is the flexOn software, which acts as an intelligent control centre, coordinating energy flows bidirectionally with the availability of renewable energy locally at the company’s own site and in the markets and making targeted use of existing storage and flexibilisation potential.

The platform leverages latent flexibility in refrigeration, heating processes, batteries and production lines, generating intelligent schedules and automatically controlling these assets.

This allows companies to draw on on-site generation or tap into the intraday spot market exactly when wind and solar power are abundant and ​low-cost. flexOn is primarily used by medium-sized and large industrial players with annual consumption of at least two gigawatt hours (GWh).

“With the fresh capital, we are investing specifically in further developing our platform and expanding our team. Together, we are driving forward the only AI to date that is directly integrated into industrial machine rooms to actively control systems, thereby setting technological standards. Our vision is to become the leading address for controlling energy flows in industry.

The seven-figure order volume from our core industries underscores the success of our solution and confirms our commitment to establishing flexOn as the standard for intelligent energy management – scalable and deeply integrated,” adds Nicolás Juhl, CEO of encentive.

The solution is already in use at leading companies such as Metro Logistics, Dachser and Klingele, and is now also being deployed by well-known utilities as a flexibility platform.

To expand into further sectors and markets, encentive will invest the additional funds in new talent as well as in scaling core areas of the platform. This will enable major customers and partners to integrate flexOn independently via a dedicated onboarding suite.

“Energy has become one of the most decisive levers for competitiveness in European industry. It is no longer a background cost but a strategic factor in an era of volatility and sustainable transformation,” said Robin Dechant, Partner at General Catalyst.

He adds: “encentive turns this pressure point into an opportunity: its AI-driven platform helps industrials cut costs while enabling them to thrive on renewable power. What convinced us was what we believe is the team’s rare ability to bridge cutting-edge AI with the realities of factory floors, a capability that can strengthen Europe’s industrial backbone and accelerate the energy transition.”

Earlier in 2024, the company secured €2.7 million from investors such as Summiteer, S I Ventures, Vireo Ventures, Interface Capital, OMA Ventures, as well as business angels including Mario Götze and Christian Reber.

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