From TechCrunch · Anna Heim · · 2m
Furo left Silicon Valley for Munich, and won
Three 28-year-old founders skipped US job offers, moved home to Germany, and raised $4M from American investors anyway.
In brief
Three 28-year-old founders skipped US job offers, moved home to Germany, and raised $4M from American investors anyway. Being close to your customers and your network can beat being close to Sand Hill Road, as long as you keep flying back for the money. Originally reported by TechCrunch.
The old rule is breaking
US venture capitalists used to demand that foreign startups relocate stateside before writing a check. Furo's founders went the other way and still got funded.
Three founders, one bet
Lena Sophia Voß, Leonie Wagner and Simon Wittner, all 28, build software for industrial battery storage systems. They moved back to Germany to do it.
$4M and Deutsche Bahn
Furo raised $4 million from mostly US backers and landed enterprise clients including German rail operator Deutsche Bahn, all within a year of founding.
“We're currently moving faster in Europe than if we'd have stayed in the U.S.”
American on paper
Furo is a Delaware C Corp. TQ Ventures led the round, with Neo, Sheryl Sandberg's Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, and Munich's CDTM joining.
Munich was the bridge
CDTM, tied to their alma mater TU Munich, sent the three to Stanford and UC Berkeley. The program that got them to the Bay Area later invested in them.
The problem lives in Europe
They wanted to cut industrial electricity costs, and that pain is sharpest in Germany, which has lurched from one energy crisis to the next for five years.
Distance slowed them down
Furo briefly worked the German market from the US during Neo's accelerator, under the name Lumera Energy. Running it from 6,000 miles away was harder.
“If you are an early-stage company, very often it's mostly about your network, and also about being close to your customers.”
They could have stayed
All three had full-time offers from Apple, Google X, and AI startups, and visas to match. Leaving was a choice about timing, not immigration policy.
“It was a decision to go back to Europe not because we needed to, but because we see that right now, it's a better time to build an energy startup in Europe.”
The network sells for you
People in their Munich network recommended Furo to its first customers. Mentors are a phone call away, and nearby technical universities feed hiring.
“Every time we have a challenge, we know exactly whom to call.”
Cheaper engineers, same quality
US investors doubted Furo could hire on its budget, which was actually top of market in Germany. Less Big Tech competition means talent is easier to reach.
“If you compare the salary of an engineer in the U.S. versus Germany, it is just way cheaper.”
The headline
Being close to your customers and your network can beat being close to Sand Hill Road, as long as you keep flying back for the money.
