Celsio has secured 1.2 million euros in pre-seed funding. The company plans to use the capital to accelerate the rollout of its trading software for industrial power-to-heat systems, making process heat more cost-effective and climate-friendly.
While many solutions focus exclusively on the electrification of industrial heat, Celsio combines electric heat generation with existing gas systems and optional thermal storage. This is designed to enable the economical decarbonization of process heat. This is a crucial factor, given that process heat accounts for around two-thirds of industrial energy demand in Europe and is still predominantly supplied by fossil fuels.
Trading software optimizes electricity and gas use for industrial process heat
Celsio develops software that controls industrial power-to-heat systems in real time while simultaneously taking electricity and gas markets into account. When electricity prices fall, electric boilers generate the required heat. When prices rise, the system automatically switches to existing gas systems or utilizes thermal storage, if available.
Additionally, the software connects to various electricity markets such as day-ahead, intraday, and balancing energy markets. This automatically deploys the most economical energy source at any given time. According to the company, this can significantly reduce both process heat costs and greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, investments in electric boilers are expected to pay for themselves in less than three years.
Focus on the chemical, paper, and food industries
Together with established equipment providers, Celsio plans the right power-to-heat solution for every industrial site and subsequently takes over the optimization of ongoing operations.
Customers particularly include companies with high heat requirements, frequently in the form of steam. These include businesses from the chemical, paper, and food industries, among others.
Especially in these energy-intensive sectors, the decarbonization of process heat is considered one of the biggest challenges on the path to climate neutrality.
Caesar. VC leads pre-seed round of 1.2 million euros
The lead investor in the financing round is Caesar. VC. In addition, CDTM Venture Fund and several business angels from the European energy and startup scene are participating. Celsio is receiving further funding through the Exist Start-up Grant as well as the DBU Green Startup Grant.
Celsio was founded by Tim Engelmann and Stefan Jokiel. The two met at the Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM), the joint innovation program of TU München and LMU München. The founding team combines expertise in energy markets, industrial plants, and software development. (Photo: Celsio)
Tim Engelmann describes the company’s vision as follows:
“Heat is the largest, most difficult, and most overlooked part of industrial decarbonization. Our goal is to make its electrification an absolute no-brainer.”
