Jodok Betschart is the Co-Founder & CEO of Cloover, a Berlin-based startup that is building an ecosystem designed to accelerate Europe’s mission to achieve net-zero emissions and unify the residential renewable energy industry. He tells Qorus’ Boris Plantier more about it.
What led to the creation of Cloover?
After studying at University of St. Gallen, I began my career at abrdn in London, where I worked for several years in the investment team with a focus on ESG. I quickly realized my desire to become an entrepreneur and founded my first B2B SaaS platform Evenito. Within five years, I scaled the company to 50 employees covering Germany, UK and Switzerland and achieved profitability.
Once you become an entrepreneur, it is hard not to start your next venture. Combining my expertise and passion for sustainable finance and tech, we launched the climate fintech Cloover in 2022.
In the renewable energy sector, we identified a significant opportunity and challenge. Energy sources play a crucial role in greenhouse gas emissions and achieving net-zero goals. Accelerating the transition to renewable energy is therefore essential.
While delving deeper into the market, we quickly realized that although companies such as Enpal, 1KOMMA5° and Zolar are well known, the true heroes of the renewable energy transition are the SME installers, which account for over 85% of all installations.
We recognized the need for financing in this market. Many cannot afford to pay for their solar installation in cash. This realization led to the creation of Cloover, enabling SME installers to offer financing directly to customers, making renewable energy accessible to all.
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