Battery Storage for the Mittelstand: Munich start-up encosa raises €25m

Munich, June 1, 2026 – For Germany’s Mittelstand, energy costs are the largest and fastest-growing pressure on margins and with ongoing geopolitical instability, relief is nowhere in sight. The answer is battery storage: a technology that can optimize electricity procurement from the grid and generate additional revenue by feeding surplus capacity back into it. Until now, however, implementing the right solution has required significant time, capital, and project management resources. Creating a barrier that ties upvaluable capacity.

encosa  – the name stands for “Energy Cost Savings” – was founded to solve exactly this challenge. With the completion of a €25m financing round, the company is now scaling its all-in-one solution across the German Mittelstand.

One Solution. Everything Included.

encosa is the one-stop shop for commercial and industrial battery storage. The company plans, finances, installs, and operates battery storage systems for energy-intensive businesses across sectors including chemicals, food & beverage, plastics, paper, glass, metal, mechanical engineering, and logistics.

A battery storage project in an industrial environment is barely comparable to a residential installation – the technical, regulatory, and financial complexity is of an entirely different order. For a typical Mittelstand company, this translates to months of coordinating financing, grid connection, fire protection, permitting, authorities, and technical planning – all while running day-to-day operations. encosa takes over the entire process,so customers can stay focused on their core business. Savings kick in from day one. Depending on consumption profile and market conditions, the investment typically pays back within 18 months to five years. A proprietary technology platform combines “behind the meter” (energy cost reduction) and “front of the meter” (energy market trading) – extracting significantly more value from every installed system.

A series of new regulations in 2025/26 is fundamentally improving the economics for commercial battery storage: the Solarspitzengesetz, new provisions in the Energiewirtschaftsgesetz (EnWG), and the MiSpeL ruling by the Bundesnetzagentur on flexible storage use. Together, these create the first regulatory framework for economically attractive multi-use models in commercial settings. encosa is built precisely for this market window.

Three Ways to Own a Battery Storage System

Financing is flexible: customers choose between purchase, lease, or rental. encosa either brings the capital or supports direct investment. The outcome is the same across all models: significantly lower energy costs, additional revenue from storage optimization, CO₂ reductions, and benefits for ESG reporting obligations.

“Battery storage is making inroads across the German Mittelstand. The question is no longer whether, but how quickly. encosa makes it simple for every business: lower energy costs – without complexity, without risk, without upfront investment.” – Sascha Koberstaedt, Founder & CEO, encosa

Lead investor Realyze Ventures, who led the seed financing round, shares this view:

“What impressed us most was how well encosa understands its customers’ needs – reflected in the strong pipeline of projects already won. Beyond that, the company differentiates itself from competitors through its own technology, which makes storage operations more efficient and accelerates the return on investment.” – Marc Stilke, Realyze Ventures

Scaling Across Germany and Beyond

The proceeds will fund both the expansion of the German business and continued development of the technology platform. The platform already manages the economically optimal operation of deployed systems and is evolving toward a full multi-use and VPP-capable energy platform – continuously increasing the economic value of every installed asset. The focus is firmly on Germany, with over 100,000 potential customers, many of which operate multiplesites. Capturing this market positions encosa ideally for international expansion.

“Storage projects are systematically underestimated. For Mittelstand businesses, they are a complex infrastructure undertaking that doesn’t end at commissioning. That’s why encosa doesn’t just deliver savings from day one – we also minimize the operational risk of managing the asset over its lifetime.” – Sebastian Becker, Founder & COO,encosa

About encosa

encosa is a Munich-based battery storage company serving commercial and industrial businesses throughout Germany. Through a full-service offering covering planning, financing, installation, and operations, encosa enables energy-intensive companies to reduce their electricity costs and generate additional revenue from storage optimization. Flexible financing models and a zero-hassle approach make the solution viable for any business.

Founded in June 2024 by Sascha Koberstaedt and Sebastian Becker, encosa has raised €25m in capital in under two years, commissioned its first installations, and assembled an experienced team of specialists. The pre-seed round was led by First Momentum Ventures and Redstone, joined by Heliad, UTUM Funding for Innovators, and WEPA Ventures. The seed round was led by Realyze Ventures, with participation from Verve Ventures, Bayern Kapital, BlumVentures, and Kopa Ventures. All pre-seed investors re-invested in the seedround, including Heliad. Additional investors include several business angels – among them Andreas Kupke (co-founder and former COO/CFO of Finanzcheck.de), Marc Stilke (former CEO of Immobilienscout24), and Sebastian Bärhold (co-founder of IDnow) – as well as a family venture capital consortium of owner-operated businesses around WEPA Ventures, supported by better ventures.