1KOMMA5° spins off Heartbeat AI and starts intraday optimization

• 1KOMMA5° Heartbeat GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary under the leadership of CTO Barbara Wittenberg and CPO Jannik Schall, bundles the AI and software business of 1KOMMA5° and is preparing to open up further to integrate customers with existing systems from other providers. 

• In order to further establish the platform as Europe's largest virtual power plant, the company is planning to invest €100 million into the development of Heartbeat AI in the next three years.

• Already in 2025, 1KOMMA5° expects SaaS revenue in the mid double-digit million range for the AI business area.

• At the same time, the expansion of AI optimization to intraday trading has begun; the company expects revenues of up to EUR 1,000 per year for customers with compatible systems.

Hamburg, Germany – Nov 20, 2024 – 1KOMMA5°, the new energy company from Hamburg, today announces the spin-off of Heartbeat AI and an investment of €100 million in the AI business area. The company is taking this step due to the high level of interest from private households with existing systems not installed by 1KOMMA5° and with the mass rollout of smart meters in Germany planned for 2025. At the same time, 1KOMMA5° has started with intraday optimization and expects this to further improve the revenues of Heartbeat AI customers by up to €1,000 per year. 

Philipp Schröder, CEO and Co-founder of 1KOMMA5°, explains: “The aim of 1KOMMA5° is to connect all electrical systems to the rhythm of wind and sun to always supply the cleanest and cheapest energy, from heat to mobility to household electricity. This is currently only possible with Heartbeat AI. Over the past three years, we have laid all the necessary foundations to now take this next step. And we will invest €100 million in the development of Heartbeat AI in the next three years. ”

As a wholly owned subsidiary, 1KOMMA5° Heartbeat GmbH, led by CTO Barbara Wittenberg and CPO Jannik Schall, bundles all 1KOMMA5° software offerings and prepares their further opening to manufacturers of batteries, charging infrastructure, heat pumps and air conditioning systems on the one hand and customers with existing systems on the other. 

Heartbeat AI is the technological centerpiece of 1KOMMA5°. The artificial intelligence is already optimizing around 40,000 systems worldwide - at home and on the electricity exchange - and controls assets such as batteries, heat pumps and EV chargers. Heartbeat AI connects tens of thousands of households to form a virtual power plant, taking pressure off the grid and generating significant cost savings for customers. The more systems in the household that are optimized via Heartbeat AI, the better the result. 

“In order to deliver the best results possible, deep and consistent software integration with manufacturers and in the energy market is necessary. At the same time, the IT infrastructure, local IoT gateways and smart meters must also be ready for use in the energy supply system, right through to billable circuit management,” says Barbara Wittenberg, Chief Technology Officer at 1KOMMA5° and Co-CEO of 1KOMMA5° Heartbeat GmbH. “Heartbeat AI not only enables optimization according to a dynamic tariff and regional grid charges, but also opens up the permanent possibility of enabling further grid-supporting services, such as intraday trading now or the provision of frequency containment reserve later. Heartbeat AI and smart meters are therefore the last components that customers still need to participate in New Energy. After that, software updates will take over in order to always supply the cheapest and cleanest electricity, even in a changing market environment.” 

The new intraday feature now takes Heartbeat AI to the next level. For customers with larger batteries, the company expects a potential of up to €1,000 in revenue per year. “In combination with day-ahead optimization, this feature leads to a massive advantage - it replaces the classic self-consumption battery, which 99 percent of all customers in Germany still use today”, explains Jannik Schall, Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at 1KOMMA5°. “Compared to stationary battery parks, our virtual power plant has several benefits: The customers' systems are already in place, so no new capital investment is necessary, and we also have access to flexibility from electric cars and heat pumps.”

Already in 2025, 1KOMMA5° expects Software-as-a-Service revenues in the mid double-digit million range for the business area and plans to integrate customers with existing systems from other providers. The expansion of the AI business area is also being driven forward internationally. Most recently, sales were launched in Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands. 

Schall adds: “The Heartbeat AI set-up enables us to integrate all available business models at the same time. For example, we are currently undergoing the prequalification for the provision of frequency containment reserve in Scandinavia. This results in massive cost benefits for our customers and at the same time we help to minimize the costs for grid expansion and thus the general public.”

1KOMMA5° has already installed over 300,000 controllable energy systems such as solar systems, electricity storage units, heat pumps and wallboxes for customers worldwide. 1KOMMA5° launched Heartbeat AI in April 2022 and started optimizing via Heartbeat AI in 2023. After the legal right to a smart meter was politically questioned, 1KOMMA5° announced that it would fill the gap for customers and install a total of 500,000 smart meters free of charge for German households.

For further press information and images visit 1k5.link/press-kit. 

1KOMMA5° operates the "Heartbeat AI" energy software platform controlled by artificial intelligence, creating a virtual power plant that networks customers' photovoltaic systems, electricity storage units, heat pumps and charging stations with the energy market and controls them in time with the sun and wind. This significantly increases the efficiency of customers' systems. As a one-stop shop, the company also offers private and commercial customers the purchase and installation of individual and intelligent energy system solutions. 1KOMMA5° currently operates 75 locations with around 2,200 employees in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Spain, the Netherlands and Australia. To accelerate its international growth, the CleanTech start-up acquires leading companies in the electrical and heating sector with a focus on photovoltaics, storage, charging infrastructure and heat pumps and in return offers the companies the use of its own software solutions, centralized services, bundled purchasing, growth capital and a return investment in 1KOMMA5°. In less than three years since its foundation, 1KOMMA5° has developed into the leading hardware and software platform in Europe. The aim is to convert 500,000 buildings a year to climate-neutral power generation, heating and mobility by 2030.