AI-supported building retrofit provider ecoworks announced today that it has raised €40 million, with proceeds aimed at supporting the growth of its climate neutral renovations solutions business.

Founded in 2018, Berlin-based ecoworks plans designs and installs prefabricated facade and roof elements, utilizing an AI-supported digital planning solution, enabling rapid apartment building retrofits to a NetZero standard. The company’s solution digitally recreates a building or a whole apartment block to design a pre-fabricated sustainable “skin” that can be brought to the construction site as a finished shell and installed quickly.

The financing comes as building renovation come into focus as a key tool in the fight against climate change. Buildings are a key source of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and also one of the hardest to replace, given their long-term nature. According to the European Commission, buildings account for 40% of the energy consumed in the EU, and for 36% of energy-related GHG emissions.

Earlier this month, EU lawmakers reached an agreement on a new regulation aimed at reducing energy use and emissions in buildings, including a requirement for major reductions in energy use in residential buildings, to be achieved through the renovation of the worst-performing buildings.

Emanuel Heisenberg, founder of ecoworks said:

“The financing round was almost three times oversubscribed. This shows the enormous interest in solutions for the upcoming European renovation wave. With our order book and increasing margins, ecoworks has the potential to become a European tech leader in the construction market.”

The funding round was led by climate-focused VC investor World Fund, with participation from Haniel, KOMPAS VC, and ISAI.

Daria Saharova, Managing Partner at World Fund said:

“Almost 75% of buildings in Europe are considered energy inefficient. Currently, the renovation rate is less than 1%. ecoworks is a retrofitting tech leader that is primed to benefit from regulatory demands for renovation of existing buildings, and increasing capital for reducing carbon emissions in the sector”.