Furo's founders left Silicon Valley for Germany — and say it's paying off
German startup Furo, which builds software for industrial battery storage, has raised $4 million mostly from U.S. backers and signed Deutsche Bahn as a client within a year of moving its founders back home from Silicon Valley.
Furo, a startup building software for industrial battery storage systems, says its founders' decision to leave Silicon Valley and return to their native Germany has boosted both funding and business growth. The company was founded by three 28-year-olds — Lena Sophia Voß, Leonie Wagner and Simon Wittner — who previously worked at Apple, Google X and various AI startups.
Just a year after launching, Furo has raised $4 million, mostly from U.S. investors, with the round led by U.S.-based TQ Ventures and joined by Neo and Sheryl Sandberg's fund, Sandberg Bernthal Venture Partners. The startup has already landed a major enterprise client, German rail operator Deutsche Bahn.
The case for Europe
Co-founder Voß said the company is now moving faster in Europe than it would have in the U.S. The founders chose to tackle industrial energy costs because they saw the problem as especially urgent in Germany, which has moved through repeated energy crises over the past five years. Furo initially operated from the U.S. under its former name, Lumera Energy, while part of Neo's accelerator program, but being far from Germany made it harder to serve customers and build a network.
Voß stressed that the move back was a deliberate choice rather than a necessity — all three founders had full-time job offers and could have stayed in the U.S. on visas. Munich's Center for Digital Technology and Management (CDTM), tied to their alma mater TU Munich, served as their bridge to Silicon Valley and also took part in the funding round.
Among the advantages of building in Germany, Voß cited a strong professional network that helped Furo land early customers and mentors, lower engineering salaries compared to the U.S., proximity to technical universities, and less competition with Big Tech for talent. Still, the company maintains close ties to the U.S., traveling there several times a year for administrative matters and to stay connected with investors.
