Realyze Ventures leads the Munich-based company’s equity financing
Cologne/Munich, 1 June 2026 – The market for industrial battery storage is gaining momentum: Munich-based startup encosa has secured €25 million in total financing to further expand its portfolio of battery storage systems for commercial and industrial use. Realyze Ventures, one of Europe’s leading sector-focused early-stage VC funds, is leading the equity financing. Verve Ventures, Blum Ventures, Kopa Ventures and Bayern Kapital are also participating, alongside existing investors and several business angels.
encosa is redefining how commercial and industrial companies access and operate battery energy storage systems (BESS). In parallel, the company has secured a scalable debt facility. This is a clear signal that leading financial institutions are convinced of the scalability and reliability of encosa’s model.
Battery storage as a response to volatile energy prices
Rising electricity prices, increasing grid fees and stricter CO₂ requirements are putting growing pressure on companies across Europe. Battery storage is considered a key technology for reducing energy costs, lowering peak loads and generating additional revenue through power trading. However, especially for mid-sized companies, adoption often fails due to high upfront investment costs and complex implementation processes. encosa aims to remove precisely these barriers.
Usage instead of ownership as the solution
The company offers commercial and industrial customers battery storage as an end-to-end solution, without requiring an upfront investment from the customer. encosa takes care of planning, financing, installation and operation of the systems. Financing is flexible: customers can choose between purchase, rental or leasing models. encosa either provides the capital itself or supports customers in making a direct investment. The company generates revenues both through energy trading and by optimizing customers’ energy consumption. This means encosa follows a business model that goes beyond traditional energy services. The company is actively building its own portfolio of battery storage systems and directly participates in the returns generated.
Software as the decisive lever
A central element of the model’s economic viability is encosa’s proprietary technology platform. It combines “behind-the-meter” optimization, meaning the optimization of energy consumption and reduction of energy costs, with “front-of-the-meter” activities, meaning the commercialization of excess capacity on the power market. This significantly increases the profitability of each installed system. Depending on the consumption profile and market conditions, the investment typically reaches amortization within 18 months to five years.
The strong interest in the model is already evident at this early stage. Within a short period of time, encosa has contractually secured a large number of projects with significant total volume. Its customers include companies from the logistics, industrial and real estate sectors.
Battery storage is moving into the focus of investors
Battery storage is becoming a central infrastructure component for the decarbonization of industry and real estate. At the same time, given the attractive returns generated through energy trading, it is increasingly establishing itself as an independent and attractive asset class. As a result, interest is growing not only among energy companies, but also among infrastructure investors and asset managers across Europe.
For Realyze Ventures, the investment is a strong strategic fit with its portfolio. The fund is closely connected to the construction and real estate sector across Europe, an industry that is under increasing pressure to integrate energy efficiency and decarbonization into projects. Against this backdrop, Realyze Ventures is ideally positioned to actively support encosa with market access and scaling.
The equity financing will primarily be used to expand the team, accelerate project implementation and further develop the technology platform. The debt financing is intended to support the expansion of the company’s battery storage portfolio.
“Battery storage is a decisive lever for modern real estate to achieve sustainability goals and maximize profitability through diversified revenue streams. encosa offers owners a holistic solution and facilitates the transition towards smarter and more efficient building operations,” says Kai Panitzki, General Partner at Realyze Ventures.
Kai Panitzki, General Partner at Realyze Ventures
Marc Stilke, Venture Partner at Realyze Ventures, adds:
“We were particularly impressed by how well encosa understands the needs of its customers. This is also reflected in the large number of projects the company has already won. In addition, encosa differentiates itself from competitors through its proprietary technology, which makes storage operations more efficient and ensures that investments pay off faster.”
Marc Stilke, Venture Partner at Realyze Ventures
“Battery storage is entering the German mid-market. The question is no longer whether this will happen, but how quickly. encosa makes it easy for every company to reduce energy costs without effort, without risk and without its own upfront investment,” explains Sascha Koberstaedt, Founder and CEO of encosa.
Sascha Koberstaedt, Founder and CEO of encosa
“Storage projects are systematically underestimated. For mid-sized companies, they are complex infrastructure projects, and commissioning is by no means the end of the story. That is why encosa not only delivers savings from day one, but also minimizes the operational risk of managing battery storage assets,” emphasizes Sebastian Becker, Founder and COO of encosa.
Sebastian Becker, Founder and COO of encosa
About encosa
encosa is a Munich-based company for battery storage solutions, serving commercial and industrial businesses across Germany. With an end-to-end solution covering planning, financing, installation and operation, encosa enables energy-intensive companies to reduce their energy costs and generate additional revenue from the commercialization of storage capacity. Flexible financing models and the absence of additional operational effort make the solution accessible to every company.
Founded in June 2024 by Sascha Koberstaedt and Sebastian Becker, encosa has raised €25 million in capital in less than two years, brought its first systems into operation and built an experienced team of specialists. In the pre-seed round, First Momentum Ventures and Redstone invested as lead investors, alongside Heliad, UTUM Funding for Innovators and WEPA Ventures. The seed round was led by Realyze Ventures, with Verve Ventures, Bayern Kapital, Blum Ventures and Kopa Ventures also participating. All pre-seed investors have invested again in the seed round.
Further investors include several business angels, among them Andreas Kupke, co-founder and former COO/CFO of Finanzcheck.de; Marc Stilke, former CEO of Immobilienscout24; Sebastian Bärhold, co-founder of IDnow; as well as a family office consortium of family-owned companies supported by better ventures. The debt facility is provided by a leading German bank.
About Realyze Ventures
Realyze Ventures is one of Europe’s largest sector-focused early-stage VC funds, with more than €50 million in capital raised and a portfolio that received more than €200 million in financing in 2025. Realyze Ventures invests in early-stage European technology startups that drive climate and process efficiency in the construction and real estate industry, as well as companies operating at the intersection of the real estate and energy sectors.
By integrating leading industry players, Realyze Ventures accelerates the transition towards net zero and addresses key challenges such as process efficiency, decarbonization and labor shortages. Through its strong network of national and international industry leaders, Realyze Ventures provides investors with valuable insights. The experienced management team aims to identify promising opportunities and generate attractive returns for investors. The fund is currently open to investors who want to participate in the structural transformation of real estate, construction and energy in Europe.
