Start-ups

University spinoff companies have to proof the practicability and the value of the research results on the market. This typical involves enormous development efforts, further research, the design of a viable business model, strong sales and marketing skills, and last but not the strength to do with enthusiasm what others regard as too risky at first.

All the more, it is extremely satisfying to see the products and services develop, have an impact and create value. The lab maintains close ties to it spinoffs and strongly benefits from their market access and skills in many ways. Amphiro AG, BEN Energy AG and Exnaton are spinoff companies founded by former and current Bits to Energy Lab researchers. Their approach to energy efficiency is based on their experience in data analytics, the Internet of Things, and behavioral economics. The lab collaborates with the three companies and uses their technologies in many research projects.

Amphiro AG is a cleantech IoT startup that has developed and introduced to the market the world’s first energy autarkic sensor and communication modules for drinking water applications. Amphiro’s technology stack brings cloud connectivity to water outlets and enables faucet and fittings manufacturers to add digital services, analytics capabilities and interactive features to mass-market faucets. This eneables a wide range of applications including energy and water saving measures, legionella prevention, hand hygiene, and monitoring resource flows and user behavior.

With over 50,000 derives in the field, a large-scale rollout in Singapore and pilots in Europe, Australia, and Asia, Amphiro to date has helped to conserve more CO2 than Tesla in Germany. The company has been acquired by Oras Group / Hansa in 2018 to accelerate the advancement of their digital service business.

BEN Energy AG is a data analytics company that develops and implements software solutions for energy providers to quantify, predict, and affect customer behavior. The solutions are based on BEN’s Energy Analytics Platform that combines smart meter data, existing customer data and open data sources and applies machine learning to derive customer insights and decision support. The tools allow utilities to implement powerful, customer-centric energy efficiency and marketing campaigns that are based on based on deep customer knowledge.

BEN has already won over 40 utilities as customers and has become the leading data analytics company for electricity retailers in Europe.

Exnaton offers a platform of data-based services for renewable energy. The whitelabel platform comes with a back-end application for energy providers and a front-end application for their customers. The flagship service, which has already attracted a lot of interest, is a local energy market allowing households and businesses to buy green electricity from their neighbors’ solar panels. For local solar producers, this is more profitable than the governmental feed-in tariffs and keeps profits in the region, thus making renewable energy more attractive for both consumers and producers. For the energy provider, this service includes a real-time billing tool and puts an end to cumbersome annual ex-post invoicing. While unleashing the full potential of energy data - simultaneously respecting data privacy - energy providers also establish a new relationship with their customers, increasing customer satisfaction and retention in the long run.