Swedish home energy tech supplier Aira, launched earlier this year, is announcing a 1bn SEK (€87m) equity raise from a group of innovation and climate investors.
Aira, a direct-to-consumer startup supplying heat pumps and home energy tech to reduce reliance on gas-based heating, was founded by Harald Mix, the man behind climate tech unicorns H2 Green Steel and Northvolt.
The additional funding will enable Aira to expand its presence in Europe. “The funding secured is a key milestone on our journey to serve 5m European households with clean energy tech solutions,” Martin Lewerth, Aira’s chief executive says.
“With this investment, we will further expand our European presence and accelerate our product and tech development to become a leading direct-to-consumer brand.”
The issue it is trying to solve
According to research from the European Union, in 2021, residential space heating accounted for 18% of the bloc’s emissions.
Switching to heat pumps could reduce household heating bills and carbon emissions substantially. Aira says it could help households save up to 40% on their heating costs while simultaneously reducing household CO2 emissions by more than 75%.
Some European countries, like Sweden, have all but ended their reliance on gas-based heating — in large part because 43% of its households have a heat pump, according to the European Heat Pump Association. It’s a totally different story elsewhere in Europe: in the UK, just 1% of homes have a heat pump.
Aira has already launched in Italy and Germany and will enter the UK market later this year. Part of the plan is to create 10k new clean energy expert jobs to serve 5m homes within the next decade.
The new funding will also be used to launch an affordable monthly payment model for homeowners, widen the products and services to include solar, dynamic energy tariffs and energy storage, as well as invest in its manufacturing capabilities in Poland.
Other startups installing domestic heat pumps include Enpal, a SoftBank-backed German company which also installs solar panels, and Danish startup Lun, backed by Norrsken.
The investors
The company has already raised more than 400m SEK (€35m) from individuals at the investment company Vargas, which also backed Northvolt.
New investors in the €87m financing round include:
- Swedish investment company Altor
- New York-based VC Collaborative Fund
- Swedish VC Creades
- Swedish investment company Kinnevik
- Exor-owned investment company Lingotto
