Munich Startup: What does your startup do? What problem are you solving?
nnnnTobias Klug, Co-Founder & CEO NuuEnergy: In short, our goal is: heat pumps as a system solution instead of a chaotic construction site. With a heat pump, you can quickly and effectively save CO2 – without sacrificing comfort like when flying or eating. This makes it one of the biggest levers in the energy transition and the fight against climate change. The problem: In Germany right now, it’s incredibly difficult to implement such a project cleanly. There are aggressive providers, overwhelmed tradespeople, zero orientation for homeowners – and on top of that, a massive shortage of skilled workers, made even worse by bureaucracy and annoying processes. Currently, for many homeowners, finding someone to take care of things is a real struggle. Construction sites are often chaotic, advice is incomplete, and trust is lacking.
nnnnThat’s why we’re building our own regional specialist businesses that, with our digital infrastructure – consisting of automation, AI, and process standardization – achieve entirely new levels of efficiency. In doing so, we focus on quality, customer proximity, and regionality. In our opinion, this interplay is the only scalable solution with high operational quality and genuine customer proximity. So we don’t just believe in technology. We believe in people who can work better with technology.
nnnn“Heat pumps are not an e-commerce product”
nnnnMunich Startup: But that already exists!
nnnnTobias Klug: I would have to disagree with that: Our model is unique so far. We systematically build specialist businesses that operate with excellence while simultaneously benefiting from a central platform of technology, data, and standardization. Yes, the heat pump market is huge, and there are many models, but most of them are inefficient partial solutions. Almost no one thinks the issue through to the end. Many sell through aggressive marketing and then hope that someone locally will take care of things „behind the scenes.” But there’s no one there if you haven’t built anyone there. Heat pumps are not an e-commerce product – they only work with local expertise.
nnnnWe understood early on: you can’t do it without the trades. We’re building the system for the trades – not against them or bypassing them. That’s why our goal isn’t a quick sale, but a network of regional businesses that are there for their customers long-term. That’s a different category – operationally and culturally. Many people can sell heat pumps through online marketing and sales tricks. But building a holistic system where skilled workers work on site with conviction even in 20 years – and making the whole thing scalable – that’s a whole different ballgame.
nnnnMunich Startup: What’s your founding story?
nnnnTobias Klug: Julia and I both had startup experience before and worked together for a time at a venture builder. We also had stints at startups, but also gained experience in mid-sized companies. Our drive to found a company was that we wanted to invest our lifetime in something that lasts and creates meaning.
nnnnWhat really grabbed us about the heat pump topic is the human dimension: construction site meets office. Two worlds that often talk past each other, and we wanted to bring them together. So in 2023, we quit our jobs and just listened. We conducted an enormous number of user interviews – with customers, tradespeople, suppliers, and so on. In the process, we first understood the full complexity of the issue – but also how much potential lies in the market.
nnnnIn 2024, we started with our first business location in Munich. That was a real roller coaster – right in the middle of the heating debate. Despite all the turbulence, the timing was strategically valuable for us: we were able to validate and learn in a highly dynamic environment and build very robust processes. This mix of operational experience and systematic learning is our foundation today. The background in venture building certainly helps us – with a focus on continuously gathering learnings and evaluating them in retrospectives. Or in other words: you learn sales best when selling is most difficult.
nnnnFrom bureaucracy to skilled worker shortage: the toughest nuts for NuuEnergy
nnnnMunich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
nnnnTobias Klug: Hiring was – like for almost everyone – a steep learning curve, but by now we have a truly excellent, committed team. Bureaucracy is sometimes absurd; I have days where I can barely believe what comes up.
nnnnWe also fight daily against the disinformation campaigns of the fossil fuel industry and the uncertainty that’s sometimes sown politically. But we like to counter that with facts, and incidentally also with growing support in the market.
nnnnWhat investors and entrepreneurs who come more from the online or pure software world often underestimate is how process-heavy the construction industry is and how many dependencies there are on third parties, from suppliers to waste disposal. We certainly had to crack a few nuts on that front. But at the same time, there’s huge potential in these processes, because that’s exactly where value creation happens.
nnnnOn the supplier side, for example, we’re now much more resilient than at the start through digital processes, standardization, and negotiation – an advantage that gets stronger with each additional location.
nnnnMunich Startup: Where do you want to be in one year, where in five years?
nnnnTobias Klug: In one year, our digital infrastructure will be fully developed and scalable – with a clear focus on end-to-end process optimization and AI-powered processes.
We’ve already built a lot of prototypes and MVPs for all relevant process steps and we’re already extremely strong at using AI meaningfully. Julia has developed much of this herself – there are countless extra hours in it. Now we want to build more power in the product team and take it up another notch. As mentioned: you can achieve incredible value creation in our industry if really every process is optimized end-to-end. And that’s not enough to just build software – it takes standardized workflows, material standards, and above all AI in the right places.
In five years, we want to be represented in every relevant region of Germany with a regional business. That means: everyone in Germany has the opportunity to get high-quality heat pump planning and installation from a NuuEnergy business – and it’s no more than an hour away.
nnnnMunich: quality justifies the cost
nnnnMunich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
nnnnTobias Klug: Munich is definitely on an upswing – you can feel it in the talent pool as well as with investors. We’re closely connected with TUM and regularly do project work with students – that’s really fun. Sure: Munich is expensive, especially with salaries, but also with office space. But the quality completely justifies it. Especially in the hardware-related sector, the city is strategically the right location.
nnnnMunich Startup: Hidden champion or shooting star?
nnnnTobias Klug: Clearly: hidden champion. We focus on creating substance, not headlines. We deliberately made our pre-seed round public late – because we wanted to build a functioning system first. Our customers aren’t on LinkedIn anyway. We celebrate internally most when a customer says: “That was really good.” Or when a tradesperson stays with us even though they get other offers.
nnnnBut: we’d certainly like to be a shooting star of the regional newspapers. We also want to have an impact as inspiration, especially for women in the energy and trades industries. There’s incredible meaning and room for self-realization in this market – making that visible is part of our mission.
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