Seven questions, seven answers. Munich Startup in conversation with eluminocity.
1. Who are you and what do you do? Please briefly introduce yourself and your startup!
eluminocity is developing a dedicated concept for urban infrastructure. We offer cities and municipalities a comprehensive conversion of street lighting to LED technology, combined with charging stations for electric vehicles integrated into lampposts. Furthermore, the implementation of modular, expandable sensor technology makes lighting intelligent. For example, it helps simplify the search for parking spaces or optimizes lighting based on needs through presence detection. Our founder, Sebastian Jagsch, 33, came up with the idea for the smart street lamp after completing his part-time Master of Light and Lighting studies at the Bartenbach Light Academy. He then implemented it in cooperation with BMW.
2. But that's been around for a long time!
Not at the time, but the fact that major lighting manufacturers and energy suppliers are now also addressing the issue at full throttle demonstrates the significant need. Our system is unique in its form because it is completely modular and also suitable for retrofitting. This means that, unlike other solutions, no additional pole needs to be purchased. Instead, the existing pole can be reused and, for example, can be retrofitted with just the charging station element in a simple step-by-step process.
3. What has been your biggest challenge so far?
The complex issues of building charging infrastructure in urban areas and smart city projects require the approval of numerous public representatives. This often entails lengthy bureaucratic hurdles.
4. Let’s get down to business: How is business going?
We've already secured several important installations, including in Munich, Starnberg, Bad Hersfeld, Oxford, Amersfoort, and the USA. 2016 is a particularly important year for us, as we've set our sights on larger rollouts.
5. What does Munich mean to you?
For us, Munich is the most beautiful city in the world. From a purely strategic perspective, the location, with its high-tech and automotive focus, is ideal for us, and the proximity to the headquarters of our cooperation partner BMW offers enormous advantages for quick, uncomplicated coordination. Furthermore, Munich is a well-located transportation hub for our international activities.
6. How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we see you soon at Epic Fail Night?
Since we have a large development component in the hardware sector, our growth is planned for the long term and financially supported. A unicorn would be nice, but building the company sustainably is important to us – in this respect, too, we fit well into the Munich startup environment.
7. Helles or Prosecco?
Since we recently moved into the former Flixbus offices on Karlstraße/Sandstraße and are located in the immediate vicinity of the Löwenbräukeller, we definitely recommend Helles.
