Introduction
Etalytics, a trailblazing energy informatics company based in Darmstadt, Germany, is transforming how industries optimize energy usage. With a unique blend of AI-driven insights and practical energy solutions, the company is tackling some of the most pressing challenges of our time—rising energy costs, sustainability demands, and operational inefficiencies. In an exclusive interview with Startuprad.io, CEO Dr. Niklas Panten sheds light on Etalytics’ journey, innovative products, and future goals.
Table of Contents
The Vision Behind Etalytics
Founded in 2020 by Dr. Niklas Panten and his team, Etalytics emerged from the academic world of energy informatics. Dr. Panten’s experience in developing a state-of-the-art energy research factory laid the foundation for Etalytics’ cutting-edge solutions. The company was driven by a clear mission: to simplify complex energy systems and make them smarter, more efficient, and sustainable.
Niklas emphasizes, “We knew there was a demand in the industry, and we addressed a very important societal issue.” This vision has propelled Etalytics to the forefront of energy innovation.
Innovative Products Driving Change
Etalytics offers a suite of products tailored to meet the demands of energy-intensive industries:
EtaOne: The flagship AI platform for data-driven energy optimization.
EtaEdge: An IoT gateway connecting industrial systems to the EtaOne platform.
EtaMind: A powerful AI solution leveraging machine learning to continuously analyze and optimize energy systems.
Together, these products form a seamless ecosystem that integrates into existing infrastructures, delivering actionable insights and tangible energy savings.
Impact on Industries
Etalytics’ solutions are transforming diverse sectors, including:
Data Centers: With 24/7 operations and enormous energy demands, data centers are a key focus. In Frankfurt, a global data center hotspot, Etalytics helps reduce energy consumption while meeting stringent regulations.
Automotive and Pharma: Etalytics’ AI-powered systems optimize complex industrial cooling and heating processes, ensuring efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions.
Dr. Panten highlights, “Our technologies address not just energy costs but also staff shortages by automating processes and enabling teams to focus on critical tasks.”
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Overcoming Challenges
The journey hasn’t been without hurdles. From navigating the COVID-19 pandemic to securing funding post-launch, Etalytics has demonstrated resilience. Dr. Panten notes, “The biggest challenge has been scaling—finding the right talent and maintaining our company culture as we grow rapidly.”
The team’s strong ties to academic institutions have proven invaluable, ensuring a steady pipeline of young, motivated talent.
Future Outlook and Expansion
With its Series A funding round nearing completion, Etalytics is poised for significant growth. Plans include expanding into key European markets like London and Amsterdam, as well as entering the U.S. market. The company also aims to scale its team from 50 to 120 employees over the next two years.
Dr. Panten emphasizes, “We’re committed to staying at the cutting edge of energy efficiency while growing our international presence.”
Conclusion
Etalytics is more than a company; it’s a movement towards smarter, sustainable energy management. By combining AI, innovation, and industry expertise, Etalytics is empowering industries to thrive in an increasingly energy-conscious world.
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Automated Transcript
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:00:01]:
Hello and welcome everybody. This is Joe from start up rate. Io, your startup podcast and YouTube blog from Germany, bringing you again another interview within our series Tech Startups Germany sponsored by Hessen Trade and Invest and the European Enterprise Network. That said, this recording is supported by HDII and the Enterprise Europe Network Hessen. They made it they made this possible, and they have made tremendous contributions to helping start up businesses succeed and thrive, providing a range of services from helping to find grants to ongoing partnerships. By taking advantage of these resources, start up companies can network and develop initiative, innovative strategies for success on the international stage, The dedicated support of HDI and the enterprise Europe network, Hessen, is paramount in providing start up businesses with the tools for lasting success. Look for our dedicated sub podcast together with them and, of course, Modern IQs. Go down here in link in the show notes.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:01:02]:
There you get to 2 sale pieces for free, but make sure to use exactly this link to sign up. Otherwise, you won't get to 2 pieces. Niklas, thank you for staying with me for long introduction. Welcome to StartUp
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:01:15]:
Radio. Hi, Joe. Thanks for having me.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:01:18]:
It's totally my pleasure. As always, I have been going through a little bit the CV of you. You you actually have a PhD, so you are doctor Niklas Hanten. And you are the CEO and cofounder of Etlytics, a company based in the Darmstadt area here in Rhein Main, Hessen. I was before we get into all of that, I was looking through your LinkedIn profile. And I've seen starting out at the very beginning, you studied at University of Kiel. It's the most northern city here in Germany. It's, like, almost Denmark.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:02:01]:
Mhmm. University of Wisconsin Madison and Technical University of Damshed. And always energy was the overarching topic. I I was wondering when you started out in terms of studying towards, towards a degree in, what was it called, a bachelor of science in electrical engineering and business administration. What did you envision you would be when you graduate?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:02:32]:
Oh, that's a good question.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:02:34]:
I know.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:02:35]:
During, I mean, how how does it start always back in school? Right? When you think about it, what do you want to become later, and what do you need to study for that? And I was always, I had the vision to start a company, actually. I was also a founder back in school and started the first company with 16, and then I thought, hey. Before going bigger, you you need some academic background. So the first choice for business was also very obvious, and at the same time, I was pretty good in math and physics. So I wanted to have a engineering touch involved as well. And then, electrical engineering was was the choice to go as I was back at the time. No possibility study is something like informatics and and business, which would be my first choice in meanwhile. But back then, electrical engineering, this information technologies was the first choice.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:03:32]:
So it was very close to programming something, developing something, and business combined.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:03:40]:
Mhmm. You've seen quite different places with Kiel, Darmstadt, and Wisconsin Medicine. What did you like about those different places?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:03:52]:
Well, Kiel was a was a obvious choice because it was just very close, to my my hometown and near near Hamburg and to a lot of friends and, back then to my girlfriend. So this was the the first choice that I really loved about Kiel, that it's close to the Baltic coast. Kiel is actually the city of sailing in in Germany, and I'm a huge sailing fanboy, so this was also a good choice. University of Wisconsin Madison, actually, before I was also some time in Shanghai, so I I really love to travel for a while. And and but, University of Wisconsin Medicine, I had a, fellowship program where I had the chance to join the WEMPAK research team at that university. It was professor Lawrence, who was an expert in control engineering, and I really loved, the time there. I was, with all the PhD involved there, very deep in in control engineering and also energy topics, and and diving deeper into that. And, Madison is an amazing city, beautiful, located in between of two lakes.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:05:08]:
I know I had the chance to say it a lot there and to serve, and so this was also maybe one of the reasons to go there. And, Tio Damshed was very different, actually. It was, after
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:05:19]:
No sailing?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:05:21]:
No sailing, unfortunately. But, why did I move here to Darmstadt? After my studies, I had different choices where to, succeed or to to do my PhD. And, here, there was a very unique opportunity to build a whole factory, the so called Itafactory, which is also one of the reasons why I'm here today, because this was very close to a lot of industry problems, actually.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:06:00]:
Mhmm.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:06:00]:
And we built a whole factory here at the campus where we demonstrate different energy efficiency, energy flexibility, energy intelligence topics, together or based on real industry problems. And, yeah, this unique opportunity was the reason to move to Damshed back then. And Mhmm. I I never regret that.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:06:22]:
You mentioned Shanghai. We also have a presence on Himalaya. What did you do in Shanghai, and what do you like about the city?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:06:30]:
I was in internship for a couple of months, and, the company is Delta Electronics, a Taiwanese company. For yeah. During my my studies, I thought I need some, expertise abroad, and I really like, this whole Asia or Southeast Asia region for traveling. I traveled a lot during my studies and a little bit afterwards, but not so anymore because of 2 kids. It stops then, but I really like that. And Shanghai was just amazing, vibrant city and so many people, so many, action and puzzles, very dynamic, a lot of speed, a lot of motivated people to actually achieve something. But it was in 2011, actually, so almost 13 years ago. I think Shanghai today is a very different city.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:07:27]:
And back then, it was also very crowded with experts, and I found a lot of friends back then. And, from what I heard today, it's very different.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:07:42]:
I always you talked about a lot of people there. I was, once in my life, I was at Nanjing Lu, which is the main shopping street in Shanghai. I was there during the golden week when 200,000,000 Chinese people are traveling. That was quite impressive. As Chinese people see say, Ranshan, Renhai, people mountain people see, though, there are enough people to fill an ocean or enough people to build a mountain from them. Yeah. So also quite impressive there. You then went to, the lovely city of Darmstadt to do your PhD, and then you transitioned from academia to entrepreneurship.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:08:25]:
Actually, your PhD was in energy informatics, so energy related computer sciences, and subsequent subsequently sorry. A difficult word today. It's in the morning, and I haven't had enough coffee. You cofounded Atelytics. How did your academic research influence the development of analytics solutions, and what challenges did you face transitioning from academia to entrepreneurship? Admittedly, it was a little bit easier for you when you earlier started a company, but the there would have been some challenges. I mean, it's it's reality. It's not a Disney movie.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:09:08]:
Definitely. There have been some some challenges and, still challenges, but we love challenges. Yeah. Back then, of course, research was a huge impact to starting the company. When we built this this factory, we put basically state of the art technology in a new factory. It had a very complex, energy system because when you build state of the art systems and, for example, reuse waste heat, have you combine actually heating systems with cooling systems, with warm water system, and so on, The whole building was interconnected to a lot of supply systems, to the production system, and so on. So Mhmm. There was this complexity, and I was responsible for gathering all the data and somehow controlling that system.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:10:00]:
And, yeah, during that time, we found out we also cooperated with a lot of companies that usually do this for industry players in automotive, chemical, pharma, whatever, building automation systems. And they always came with conventional approaches, that might be robust and actually work in the end. So the energy flows from a to b as it's intended, but it was very obvious, already that this is not very efficient when they implement it. So the idea came up. Hey. This is so complex now. We need advanced technologies like machine learning, AI to analyze and optimize those systems all the time. And this is when when I, dived into different algorithms to to study those systems based on the data to build digital twin models to optimize the systems.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:11:01]:
So this was, of course, also the foundation, of the company because all the research projects that we have here at the PDW, that's the research institute I was with, are always, in, in a big, cooperation with industry players. So there was a Bosch, Rexroth, and there was a Volkswagen and then and other players. And we see directly, hey. What are the problems that we had in the factory building here? They have as well. And they were actually running energy systems not very efficiently. And, so it was obvious, hey. This is a good point to start a company and transition and transform those technologies into a real product that can be used in those industries.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:11:50]:
Mhmm. Mhmm. You started Italytix in 2019 in between there was the energy price shock, from the cutoff of the Russian gas, increasing power and heating prices here in Germany. Did you actually see there a spike in interest from the industry?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:12:13]:
Yes. Definitely. We we started in 2019, concepting the software, the product, and the business. Actually founded the company in 2020 and had, I would say, 2 years of close development, or developing the product together with some early customers. And, we of course, you always start early with sales and getting in touch with potential customers, doing customer discovery calls, and so on. So we had a long long list of contacts and companies we have been in touch with. And, basically, when the, Ukraine, Russia war started and, the gas and also electricity prices climbed, then everything was much faster than before. We we talked about weeks, months, and and then they called, hey.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:13:05]:
Okay. When can you install? When can you do something? Because they they had a real pain back then.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:13:10]:
Mhmm.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:13:11]:
Still have a real pain, but not a real pain then.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:13:15]:
I I I totally understand that. My question, would be could you qualify it, like, 50% more requests or factor 2, factor 3?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:13:33]:
I I wouldn't say, request. Just the
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:13:37]:
the
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:13:37]:
the conversion cycles have been shortened much more because, requests are rather difficult because we haven't been, on the market yet with our product. So we haven't been done any, outbound marketing and so on. That was only our website, of course. And and if if you've, looked us up, then you probably also find us, but we haven't done any active marketing and and sales back at the time. So it was rather in our, looking at the context we've been in touch with, this has been, like, 2030. The the cycle has gotten much shorter.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:14:16]:
Mhmm. You studied energy informatics, energy computer sciences. What did you bring? What new or newer or better technologies did you bring from your PhD into analytics?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:14:34]:
To be honest, in the end, not that much. Rather some technology from the other cofounder, Thomas, because, I followed a quite different approach, which is, only AI related to the so called deep reinforcement learning. So it's a real system that only learns from data, and you have a black box in between. And, we benchmarked this technology against a different one that we're currently using in the the company that is rather a combination of AI and physical models, engineering models that makes optimization more robust and better predictable, and you need less data. So it has a lot of advantages. That's why not that much on my approach actually, is implemented in in our technology right now, except, all the experience that that we gained with how to access, integrate into, data systems. This is a a big part. Right?
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:15:44]:
Mhmm.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:15:44]:
You have this we we are our customers, our data centers are automotive big automotive companies, chemical pharma, companies, and they have different data systems, very high requirements in terms of cybersecurity, and, certifications and so on. And you need to find a way to to get your software integrated into those systems, in a in a safe way and to, connect to it. So, to those data, and actually, I have a very neat and easy experience to integrate them and, do analytics on them.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:16:24]:
I see. Be be before we get into the recompany and and analytics itself, There's last last question set or questions that I have about you, talked about being the CEO and cofounder. How do you, right from the start, try to foster a climate of innovation and collaboration, a company strategy, a company culture? What strategies did you find helpful there? Because that's something founders do struggle with. If you want to do it right, you should do it right from the start.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:17:14]:
Yes. Having the right culture in in the teams is is a is a crucial part, I would say, in when starting a company. And we always, especially in the beginning, we always enforced our culture by putting our different aspects of our culture on the wall as well, like, you know, move fast and and break things. Especially in the beginning, we shifted a little bit from the concept, to be honest. Meanwhile, we, in in order to have the innovation collaboration here, we are actively participating in different research projects, still have a lot of cooperations, with, different research institutes, not only the, but also the DFKE, for example, and and other Could
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:18:05]:
could could could you tell the audience what they have got used? Because I also don't have a clue.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:18:10]:
Okay. It's, how do you pronounce it? It's a it's a German Institute for AI, basically.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:18:16]:
It's a Deutsches Institutecundlichenter Ghent. Exactly. Yeah. The German Institute For Artificial Intelligence. Okay.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:18:24]:
Yeah. Yeah. And the Fraunhofer Institute that are probably well known. And, so to together, all of those research projects, we we always try to, get more innovation into our products. And, it's it's a part of our strategy to be always involved in research projects to not stop with our product that we have right now, but to think further. What's the next step? What's the next iteration? What's the next innovation that our customers need? Not only in the research projects, but also, of course, together with our customers, that are in often cases also part of the research projects. So we closely cooperate here.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:19:03]:
Mhmm. Mhmm. I see. I would be interested in learning a little bit more about analytics. What was actually the, like, the inspiration and the final spark to really say, yeah, I wanna do this. Yes. I wanna do this with my cofounders.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:19:26]:
That's a good question. So we we had some technology. We knew there was a demand in the industry. We knew this is we address a very important topic as in society, and we thought, okay. Let's let's give it a try. Let's, put together a business plan. And we, take, took part of, a competition from the German government and posted our business plan here and, tell it, okay. If they're gonna rate us well on this competition, then there are some good good reasons to start a company, and we actually, won this competition.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:20:09]:
It was a major prize and a special prize as well. So we thought, okay. Now we're gonna we need to do it. So this was was a big start. I was very motivated, but, of course, I even without that, but, to convince some other people that this is a good idea to start already because looking at my cofounders, Thomas, who was also back at the time in in the PDW Institute, he hasn't he wasn't finished with his PhD thesis yet. So it was a little bit early to cut strings with the institute or to to do something else. But I think, we found good reasons to to do it anyway, and we found also a good mode where he could finish his PhD thesis and start the company at the same time.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:20:58]:
Mhmm. I see. I see. Yeah. You you have to find agreements that are working. Otherwise, if you have cofounders who are not actually involved in the business, that's usually a pretty hard sell for for investors. Your experience before founding the company, I understand mostly your cofounder Thomas put in also some of the IP there with AI and machine learning?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:21:25]:
Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. So we followed his, approach and or some aspects of his approach, and we combined it with some others. There's not that much IP anymore from his PhD thesis, and then we are pretty much we developed everything. So and, yeah, before, as I mentioned, we had this experience building the factory. You know, I was also leading the research group with 25 PhD scientific researchers, back then. And, yeah, this this was the influence for starting the company.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:22:05]:
What's, would you say, the biggest hurdle setting up at analytics together with your cofounder?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:22:13]:
The biggest hurdle. That's a good question. I think the beginning wasn't too hard, actually. I think at later stages, we had more problems because in the beginning, it was I mean, you you get some funding from the exist programs, for example, that are popular from when you found from from a university. Then, there was, the pandemic. Okay. This was a challenge because we couldn't see each other, so we had a lot of remote time and some secret meetings. Mhmm.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:22:47]:
And, yeah, back at the time, we we needed to get some funding for after the access period, actually, to the next steps. We had a proof of concept, a first prototype ready at the end of the access stage, but it wasn't really on a on a production ready level yet. So, I think the first challenge was to to find different ways to to get the funding. But, yeah, that's what we managed. And then over time, new challenge arise from finding the right talents for the company, organizing them, having growing teams, getting some some leaders in in those teams. And and now we deal with very different challenges than than we dealt, many years ago.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:23:38]:
That actually brings me exactly to the next question. We started out, it was just 2 founders. And when did you start hire the first people? Both of them are questions.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:23:49]:
Actually, 3 founders. So it was Thomas and I, and, we both have a background in rather energy topics and and bring the business to the table, business expertise, and we thought, okay. We're gonna build a enterprise software. We we need someone that is actually a software architect and, has a lot of experience building and building scalable software. So we found our third cofounder, who's an expert in that field. So this was the founding team. And, back at the time at the institute, we have been already in touch with a lot of students that that worked for the institute as a working student mostly before, that were also the the first, people we hired for the team actually because they wanted to to stay with us as a founder and, take part of this this early start up.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:24:49]:
That actually sounds like a pretty good idea to get, close ties to good universities. Would you recommend other founders to do that as well, especially, but not only if they're from academic backgrounds?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:25:02]:
Definitely. This is, when I look at our our hires, we had the best experience hiring, rather young, motivated talents right from the universities. So a lot of people that work for us now started as an intern, working student, then and that we just hired after the studies. And compared to some other candidates, we we also have senior roles here. No worries. But, compared to some others, we had rather mixed experience with some others. So always How those people that we knew for quite a long time were were always good candidates.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:25:45]:
How many people are there right now in your company?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:25:48]:
Almost 50, I think. What was that? 4047 headcount. Yeah. But all full time, of course. I think it's Mhmm. Somewhat 40 FTEs.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:25:59]:
Mhmm. You have several software products for in for the industry, for enterprises. What would you say is the first product you started, and how did you branch out?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:26:13]:
It's yeah. You you can call it different products, but it's actually in the end what what we offer to our customers always a combination of those different products as a suite, more for example. So, Eta 1 is our flagship product, our platform, which brings all the infrastructure to do, AI and and data driven analysis and optimization on those energy systems. And then we have some, Eta Edge, for example. This is our gateway solution, which is just a connector to the the the systems that we see, and our customers. And then we have our Eta Minds solutions, which are the AI scripts, the the whole AI solutions that that are running inside of the EtaOne platform. So, for all our customer projects, it's always a combination of those 3 products, that that we bring to the table.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:27:09]:
So, basically, you have one product that brings in all the data, one product that analyzes all the data. And what's the 3rd product?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:27:18]:
And the the Aetna 1 Aetna Mind is the AI suite. This is also Python related or really machine learning AI stuff. ItaEdge brings the data to the platform. ItaOne is the platform itself. So it's, you have some, you have some some data systems in there that put them in databases, processes the data, samples data, align them to our meta information models. So we also model, for example, pumps, how they are connected to storages and to chillers and so on. So, that's that's a lot of, data that are laying in the inside of the platform, and that's also where, everything is connected together. So, the Eta 1 platform controls Eta Edge IoT gateway.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:28:07]:
It controls our AI solutions and attracts and monitors execution of our AI optimization algorithms.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:28:15]:
Mhmm. I see. In your interview so far, you already talked about collaborations, partnerships. What role did they play without mentioning, like, all the the the the single partnerships, in the growth of development and development of your company? And important for all the other founders out there, how did you find them?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:28:45]:
Mostly out of our network. When you find, when you found the company from the institute, of course, we still have strong ties to the institute. So we had our first partners for r and d, for example, in in the institute and other research institutes we've been in touch with back then. So this is how to find this. Also, the first customers came out of the network, where we as I mentioned before, all the R and D projects that we've been part of, are always in close collaboration with industry players. So we already had good ties to different companies and, some leaders in there. Yep. This is how we started the partnerships and some others that, some other former colleagues of the institute also found in other companies, for example, energy consulting companies.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:29:40]:
So also those partnerships play a role played a role later.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:29:45]:
Mhmm. You you you let us go a little bit into the current status, what you guys currently doing, and what you are offering. We already talked about, like, how big you are that you received funding in the past and, some other milestones. But we know you're 3 founders. Now you're almost 50 people. How did you keep up the company culture? I mean, that that's a very important part, especially when a company is growing very fast, that there's always a big hurdle to take and grow the people with you, those who are there for a long time, but also those who are joining new, the new joiners.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:30:35]:
That's that's definitely the case. I think the biggest hurdle is is yet to come with our new, series a funding that we're about to close soon. We will grow to 120 people in the next, 2 years. Then this will definitely be a different challenge, than it's now, especially as we're, we grow also internationally and expand there and have some offices and people, not located in Darmstadt, which is something that I would say is, makes makes it a little bit easier for us now. We have we had a strategic decision not to hire remote only. So we're only hiring here at Darmstadt, of course, with options for home office and so on, but not not only. So we actually have all the people here together in the office. So we have a very, close relationship.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:31:26]:
We're doing regular events, mostly young people, having also some fun outside of the work and so going, or have a regular event, for example, doing some wine hiking or, playing, I don't know, laser tag and so on. So this this definitely helps keeping the the team together with at the same time putting our our culture on the wall, communicating our culture, injecting the culture also in the team leads that carry it forward. Yep. This this is what what we took for for steps to to keep that culture, but, of course, with growing teams, it's harder and harder to achieve this.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:32:12]:
We will be back after a short break from our advertisement partners. Welcome back to my interview with Doctor. Niklas Pantent, cofounder of Etalytics, cofounder and CEO, I have to say. Given the rising energy and gas prices translating into higher power costs, have you observed a surge in demand or at least requests or website visits since, the especially the hike in energy prices here in Germany?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:32:52]:
Well, yes. I think we had this peak during the Ukraine, Russia war and the real peaks that we also saw on on the markets, the energy markets. And and meanwhile, the prices, has decreased already again
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:33:09]:
Mhmm.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:33:09]:
On levels similar to before the war. But they're still, especially in Germany and some other European countries, on a on a quite high level compared to other countries like the US and on average, for example, or China or whatever. So this is definitely one of the the drivers to look into energy efficiency technology, next to achieving very, ambitious c two reduction goals. Basically, all the companies, try to to become c o two neutral over the next years, as their customers, are pushing them or the investors are pushing them and so on. So there there are different drivers actually from technologies like ours. Not only not only energy cost, also actually also staffing, for example. Mhmm. A lot of companies having problems to to find, the right talents to operate those energies complex energy systems, and this is also where software actually helps to reduce the need of staff and and to make the staff more efficient, to actually focus on on the topics that are most important and that needs to be manually done.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:34:28]:
We've always talking about in abstract terms about the clients and the energy systems. Could you give us an idea how what what's your average client look like and what be because because I'm I'm a business guy. I have no idea. I plug in, the the computer into the power plug, and it works. What kind of challenges do your clients facing, and what kind of industries are we talking about here?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:34:54]:
Yeah. So our research institute was mostly focused on production, industries. So it was very, near to to go into automotive industry, for example, or chemical pharma industry, and this is also 2 of the verticals that that we're serving. But our major and most important vertical, is now, meanwhile, the data center industry. And and the reason is that we all use the cloud, the Internet, AI solutions, JettyPT, and so on, like it's somewhere in, yeah, the heaven or whatever, but it's of course, the cloud is not happening there. It's, in huge buildings. For example, here in Frankfurt, a mine, it's a major hot hot spot for data centers. And Dusseld is very close to it, by the way.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:35:46]:
And so buildings are full of computers running 247, consuming huge amounts of energy. In Hessen, the state of Hessen, it's almost 7% of the electrical energy that is used there. And worldwide is currently almost 3%, and this vertical data center industry is growing crazy. Like, there are currently more data centers in construction than they are already connected to the grid. So the the energy demand is just exploding. And, at the same time, there's a lot of regulations going on enforcing those data centers to become more energy efficient to achieve certain so called PoE KPIs. And, yeah, we actually help them. This is why the data center industry is a huge driver for us.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:36:30]:
And then all those, customer groups that I mentioned have the same the same background. Mostly, they have huge industrial cooling system or industrial heating systems or ventilation systems that are so complex that convection control cannot, run and operate inefficiently. And we help them with our software to have an AI data driven analysis and continuous, optimization, in parallel to the existing system.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:37:00]:
Mhmm. Before we get to the usual closing questions, I would, like to take a little outlook together with you and hear about your future plans. We know very likely soon after the publication of this interview, you are going to close a series a funding. What you're gonna do with this funding? What trends do you see that you want to participate? I've already heard AI data centers is a big thing. Do you only do this right now in Germany or globally?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:37:37]:
Well, Germany is definitely one of the most important market for us because of regulations on high energy prices. But, looking at data centers, you have the so called flat d markets in in Europe. So it's next to Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Paris, and Dublin, and that are the most important data set data center hotspots here in Europe. So we're expanding to to those. And, if you look globally, where all the data centers located, of course, the US is also a big market to look into, especially as our customers, huge enterprise, are mostly US customers, actually, and it was headquartered in the US. So we're also expanding to the US, in the over the next month. Yeah. So this is mostly what our series a is about, expanding sales, expanding marketing, expanding customer success, less focus on r and d because we already have quite a big r and d team and with a very stable team.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:38:44]:
And we we're still adding more features and new innovations to the platform, with our existing team.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:38:52]:
I see. We we already heard that you are in the process of closing series a. Would it be too late for an investor to get in, or are you already open to talk to new investors? I mean, after funding is before the funding. Right?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:39:09]:
That's definitely the case. So I I'm always open to talk to investors, of course, to to just be in touch. To be honest, our our series a round was very fast oversubscribed. We it was very surprising, actually, a little bit, in in the beginning because, the whole world's talking about, hey. VC investments are rather hard at this time. For us, it was a little bit different experience because, it seems all the investors or a lot of investors are looking into the data center and energy optimization space. So we had a lot of interest, and we could basically pick our investors, in the end. So, yeah, all around us is full and complete and ready to to be signed soon.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:39:58]:
Mhmm. I see. We also heard that you guys are currently around 50 people, and you're going to grow to a 120 people who are still listening and interested to join you. I think you would be open to recruit at least 17 new people, and they can find more here in links down in the show notes. We will link your career website. Would that be okay with you guys?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:40:24]:
Definitely. We will have a lot of, yeah, looking for a lot of talents in in the next weeks. Currently, not that many open yet, but we're preparing them and and soon to be published.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:40:36]:
Yeah. And just come back and listen to the interview again, and then you can you can you can, revisit the the careers website or simply revisit the Key Area website. You're totally your choice, guys. The the the very last question for all interviews, supported by Hessen Trade and Invest is you now have the opportunity to address, like, one question, one concern to the decision makers here in the state of Essendon. With your experience here, what would it be?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:41:11]:
Well, it's hard. I think my concern would not only be for the for the state of Hessia decision makers, but rather in general. I always have the feeling that we need we all need to become much faster in everything to compete globally. Just look outside of Germany, look at China, even parts of of the US, how fast technology is evolving, how different and efficient different aspects of of our life can be, like, with digital processes. I mean, we soon have a notary appointment for closing our deal and and still every shareholder needs to be present and and fly to Frankfurt. Why can't I join remotely these days? For example, why do international employees have such a hard time getting appointments here in our outlander, and why can't I manage things online? Why did the text declarations still such a pain? Or why is actually a real pain to me as I always paying with with my mobile phone in in meanwhile. Why are so many shops and restaurants still only accepting cash in Germany? It's it's crazy. And, it's feeding.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:42:25]:
We just need to speed up, be more efficient, to, yep, be competitive in the future compared to other countries. We're in a global competition, I guess.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:42:38]:
For everybody who doesn't speak German, is the aliens registration authority or foreigners registration office. I assume you are also hiring a lot of international talents in the future. Right?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:42:54]:
Yes. We do. We, our team is very international already. And, of course, also in the future, we will build also teams outside of dam Damshed in in other countries. So this is an important step.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:43:06]:
Do do you we already heard about the US. Do you have other countries in mind?
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:43:13]:
Yeah. And our plans are not 100% done yet, but, of course, London and UK is a important market, also with high energy prices, a lot of data centers, and a lot of industry here, so probably UK. And we're currently looking into Asia, where we would probably rather try to find a partnership. And part of our series a funding is actually also, that strategic investor will join us and will also be an important partner for us in for different, international expansions in the next years.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:43:55]:
That sounds pretty good. Niklas, it was a pleasure talking to you. We're recording now almost 45 minutes. Thank you very much for sticking with me. It was a pleasure talking to you and looking forward to your series a announcement.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:44:08]:
Thank you again for having me. It was a pleasure.
Jörn "Joe" Menninger | CEO and Founder Startuprad.io [00:44:12]:
Have a good day. Bye bye.
Niklas Panten | CEO & Co-Founder at etalytics [00:44:13]:
Bye bye.
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