Volter, a London-based solar startup building the operating system for commercial rooftop solar, has secured $3.2 million in pre-seed funding. The round was led by Transition, with participation from Seedcamp (which recently backed Argil and Prelude) as well as Neptunia, a real estate investor.
Other prominent angel investors who participated in the round include Johannes Schildt, Co-Founder and CEO healthtech scaleup Kry; serial climate tech founder Eamon Jubbawy (Isometric, Safi, Sequence, Onfido); and Mark Long, Head of Strategy at commercial real estate fund, Orchard Street.
The capital injection will be used to build Volter’s product offerings, expand its customer base, and to launch operations in a new European market.
This investment round follows the recent funding influx into European solar startups, including the French startup ZE Energy, Norwegian startup Glint Solar, and British startup Naked Energy.
What challenge does Volter resolve?
The European solar sector has experienced remarkable growth, with a 40% year-over-year increase in 2022 and 2023, and a predicted tripling of capacity in the coming years. If fully deployed, rooftop solar has the potential to fulfil up to 25% of European electricity demand. However, while solar deployment continues to accelerate, software solutions lag behind, leaving real estate owners and managers unable to profitably scale solar investments. Volter addresses this critical gap by providing an end-to-end operating system.
Who is behind the team?
Volter was founded by Luke Buhl-Nielsen and Alex Joss, both with strong backgrounds at fast-growing startups within the energy and climate space. The duo met at McKinsey, with Luke moving to Index Ventures before his term at healthcare unicorn Kry. Alex moved on to scale various startups and climate non-profits, including a new arm of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The duo have hired a strong initial team with top tier VC startup experience across tech, product, design, as well as C&I renewables expertise.
Managing solar assets made seamless
Volter’s platform helps real estate owners, managers and solar installers to deploy, manage and optimise solar portfolios across multiple sites. The platform enables automated billing and invoicing, customised insights and reporting, streamlined installation proposals, along with real-time operational performance monitoring and industry benchmarking, enabling users to maximise revenue and accelerate asset deployment.
Since officially launching its platform in August 2024, Volter has won several major property and real estate clients. It is now expanding its team whilst looking ahead to ambitious growth plans in 2025. Over time Volter will expand into energy services, becoming a platform for batteries, energy usage optimisation, brokerage of renewable energy and virtual power plants.
Luke Buhl-Nielsen, Co-founder of Volter, said: “C&I properties are merging with energy to become revenue-generating power plants – this is the creation of an entirely new asset class. Forward-thinking real estate owners are rapidly recognising the immense potential of integrating renewable energy sources – such as solar – into their buildings. However, there is a critical gap in the market: the lack of robust software solutions to help real estate owners effectively manage and monetise their renewable energy output. Volter fills this void and capitalises on the growing trend to incorporate solar production into C&I real estate, by empowering asset owners, managers and solar installers to seamlessly manage, optimise, and scale onsite renewables across diverse portfolios.”
Ari Helgason, Partner at Transition, said: “At Transition, we’re committed to backing innovations that drive the decarbonisation of our economy. By allowing C&I real estate owners to offer clean energy options to their tenants, Volter’s operating system will accelerate the adoption of renewable energy sources and help to create a more sustainable grid. Given that nearly 40% of global carbon dioxide emissions come from the real estate sector, this shift not only makes economic sense for landlords and tenants, but also plays a crucial role in building a more sustainable and resilient energy future for our planet.”
Tom Wilson, Partner at Seedcamp, commented: “As electricity prices rise while solar hardware costs decline, rooftop solar has become an increasingly attractive investment for C&I property owners. The Volter platform will be pivotal in advancing sustainable energy infrastructure within the C&I sector by enabling real estate owners to efficiently scale their solar investments and optimise financial returns. We’re excited to support Volter as they meet the increasing demand for sophisticated software solutions in the growing asset class of onsite renewables.”
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