Did you know what the biggest industry in the world is? We guess not. We’ll we didn’t know until we met Sebastian Dominguez, Managing Director of CAALA who are our next finalists. It is the construction industry. CAALA developed a SaaS that help architects to make environmentally friendlier decisions. Easy and within seconds. Well, we think every house that will be planned ever should be planned with CAALA. What do you think?
Describe your product and its history! What is your unique value proposition and your business model?
The construction industry is the biggest industry in the world and uses 40% of our energy, 50% of our resources and is responsible for 36% of the EU CO2-emissions.
With CAALA® architects can calculate and compare in seconds millions of building variants with regards to energy demand, CO2-emissions, investment and operational costs. Our SaaS solution assists architects in optimizing building designs in the early development phases by providing life cycle assessment on design variants considering all relevant design parameters. With CAALA the environmental footprint can be lowered (up to 40% less CO2-emissions) and the value of the building project increased (up to 30% less life-cycle costs).
What is your vision in regards to the future of the energy economy? And how does your product contribute to this future?
We believe that in the fight against climate change, the largest industry in the world holds the key to success. The construction industry greatly contributes to primary energy use, resource consumption and CO2-emissions. Buildings planed today will be used over the next 40 years and hence have a significant impact on the ecology. CAALA assists architects in optimizing the building design towards a minimal environmental footprint by quantifying the financial and environmental impact of design decisions.
What are, in your opinion, the key challenges of the energy transition in general, and what are they specifically for your startup?
The construction industry is key to driving energy transition. Since it is a heavily regulated industry, its pace is very slow and because of high construction costs, real estate investors are also risk adverse. Knowledge and experience dominate the planning and the decision making processes. The challenge startups have, is leveraging that thirst for security early on in the planning process of real estate projects by providing information and visualizing large amounts of data in real time in a non-expert friendly manner. That opportunity is what we aim for with CAALA.
Where are you based, and who are the key innovation drivers in the energy ecosystem in your region?
The CAALA GmbH has his headquarters in Munich and an office in Weimar. Our partners are mainly in Stuttgart, Berlin, Munich and Weimar.
Which results for your startup do you expect from the Tech Festival by DENA in March 2017?
At the Tech Festival by DENA we want to engage with potential early stage investors eager to finance the energy transition in the biggest industry of the world! Meeting with industry leaders and potential partners is on our agenda as well.
With CAALA architects can calculate and compare in seconds millions of building variants with regards to energy demand, CO2-emissions, investment and operational costs. Our SaaS assists users in optimizing buildings in the early development phases by providing life cycle assessment on design variants considering all design parameters. With CAALA the environmental footprint can be lowered (> 40% less CO2-emissions) and the value of the building project increased (>30% less life-cycle costs).
