Furo raises $4M from TQ Ventures, Neo and Sheryl Sandberg to build the operating system for industrial battery storage

As AI data centres drive an unprecedented spike in energy demand, Furo turns batteries into revenue-generating assets, laying the groundwork for more clean energy

MUNICH, GERMANY — September 10, 2026: Furo, the AI-powered software platform transforming the entire battery value chain, today announced $4 million in funding led by TQ Ventures, with participation from Neo, Sheryl Sandberg’s Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, and CDTM Venture Capital. Already the go-to platform for nearly all commercial and industrial battery storage projects planned in Europe, Furo optimizes when batteries charge, discharge, and trade energy, cutting electricity costs for customers by up to 40%.

The Energy Transition has a Software Problem

AI data centers are driving an unprecedented spike in energy demand: data center electricity consumption is forecast to nearly triple by 2035, and wholesale power prices could rise as much as 50% over the next five years. The companies hit hardest are the industrial businesses that power the physical economy. Battery systems are the obvious answers, but most of them underperform. The installers, project developers, and manufacturers who supply battery systems aren't software companies and  the complexity of modern energy markets can't be captured in a spreadsheet.

"Inflexible energy demand costs industrial companies an estimated $580 billion globally every year," said Lena Sophia Voß, co-founder of Furo. “Furo exists to turn every battery into an intelligent, revenue-generating asset and give companies that money back."

From Idle Hardware to Working Capital

Most batteries today run on static, rule-based software that operates the same way regardless of what’s happening on trading floors or factory floors. Furo's AI agent forecasts energy prices, weather, and each site's unique consumption profile up to 48 hours ahead, then sequences every available use case in real time through multi-use-optimization: peak shaving, self-consumption, tariff arbitrage, grid fee reduction, energy trading, and backup power. Sold through 800+ installers, developers, storage manufacturers, and utilities, the platform is live at over 5000 industrial sites. Partners like BayWa are delivering payback periods of under five years to customers who were previously looking at ten to 15.

"Our industrial and commercial customers aren't buying technology, they want to lower their electricity costs. With Furo's software platform, we can deliver on exactly that promise: from system planning and operational optimization to trading surplus capacity, Furo gives us the decisive competitive edge in our commercial & industrial segment. We and our customers gain full transparency into what our battery is actually doing and why. We can already see that difference in sales and have significantly more storage projects today than we did a year ago," said Ben Rohloff, Director Commercial & Industrial, Enpal.

From Google X and Apple to the World’s most Volatile Power Markets

Founders Lena Sophia Voß, Leonie Wagner, and Simon Wittner met as students at the Technical University of Munich, then went on to Stanford and UC Berkeley and stints at Google X, Apple, and AI startups in San Francisco. They returned to Germany just as Europe’s energy crisis made industrial battery storage one of the most urgent problems in the market. Germany’s renewables-driven price swings have made it the world’s most demanding training ground for battery software and the same pressure is now arriving in the US, where Furo is laying the groundwork for its market entry.

"Lena, Leonie and Simon understand the European energy market at an extraordinary level of depth. It's a remarkable example of team-market fit. Together, they bring exceptional technical depth and operational experience in Europe's most complex power market. That's already reflected in the number of projects and the data they've built up. Coupled with a global market for storage flexibility set to multiply in the coming years, we see this as one of the greatest opportunities in Europe and beyond,” said Schuster Tanger, co-founding partner at TQ Ventures.

About Furo

Furo is a Munich-based software company for the control and optimization of commercial and industrial battery storage systems, founded in 2025 as Lumera Energy by Lena Sophia Voß, Leonie Wagner, and Simon Wittner. The platform forecasts electricity prices and weather up to 48 hours in advance, uses this to optimize storage operations in real time, and markets unused capacity in energy trading. Furo sells through installers, project developers, storage manufacturers, and energy suppliers; more than 800 companies use the platform at over 6,000 sites across Germany and Europe. Investors include TQ Ventures, Neo, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners, and CDTM Venture Capital.