Finding the right investors

Startups with a hardware component face unique challenges compared to software startups. Benedikt comments "there is a saying that hardware is hard. For our first raise we additionally were in the midst of the buy-out process. That required a lot of trust from our investors and I’m very grateful that we found three amazing parties who contribute with capital but also relevant expertise: a construction entrepreneur, a business angel, and a VC."

Emost is quickly building its channels. A major customer win was securing a deal with a German construction machinery manufacturer with two billion revenues as OEM partner. This manufacturer will distribute emost's products across Europe under its own brand. This deal, which took one and a half years of negotiations, is expected to boost emost's growth significantly. In the coming months, emost aims to continue the broadening of the customer base. To step up the marketing and sales activities and fund the internationalization, they plan to raise a five million CHF round. Part of the proceeds will also be invested into the further development of software to enable new microgrid capabilities and some new features on the hardware side. "We want to meet additional customer demands from our backlog and push forward with internationalization," Benedikt explains.

Building a winning team

Building the right team was crucial for emost's success. The broad and diverse experience in the founding team was a good, broad basis. Initial hires were recruited from the founders’ network. However, the advice from the invested VC led to the early hiring of an HR professional, which proved to be a game-changer. Benedikt emphasizes, "hiring HR early significantly improved the speed and quality of the team members and allowed us to build a stellar team fast. As HR is not yet a full-time position, we were lucky to find a person with Danijela who also supported our business in various positions. Getting a look into different roles allows her to better select the right team members. For fast growing teams, getting an HR person onboard early on is a great move I would never have done without the advice of our board. Now we have an ex-purchasing manager from Strabag, a JP Morgan banker, a Boring Company engineer and other top talents that joined our quest. One trait we look for in any new team-member is flexibility and teamwork – the whole team works as an amazing unit helping each other out where necessary.”

SEF Growth: an excellence label

Emost was awarded the SEF.Growth award. During the process an expert jury looked at the business model and current status in detail, awarding emost their label of excellence SEF.Growth. In the process the experts also supported with ideas and practical tips – especially how the international expansion can be accelerated with the right licensing strategy.

Overall, emost's journey highlights the challenges and rewards of innovating in the hardware space. With a dedicated team and strategic vision, Benedikt and his team continue to push the boundaries of mobile energy solutions, making significant strides in a rapidly evolving market. “We are always eager to find partners joining our journey – customers, service partners, investors, employees – we always look at growing our network to enable the energy transition beyond the grid,” says Benedikt.

emost AG

Providing energy beyond the power grid