In France, the building sector represents 43% of annual energy consumption. To achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, the country has committed to tripling the number of energy-efficient home retrofits.
This is why we are excited to back Kelvin, a Paris-based software platform dedicated to professionals in the construction and real estate industries. Founded in 2023 by serial entrepreneurs Clémentine Lalande, Guillaume Sempé, and Pierre Joly, Kelvin uses artificial intelligence to generate studies for the energy-efficient renovation of residential buildings. Based on a unique combination of open data, computer vision, and artificial intelligence, the software is co-developed with the French Scientific and Technical Center for Building (CSTB).
Kelvin remotely estimates the energy performance of a property and provides tailored work recommendations with associated costs to ensure a significant improvement in the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). The company’s mission is to scale up the energy renovation of residential housing.
Clémentine Lalande, Co-founder and CEO of Kelvin explains:
“We need to scale up energy renovations. Kelvin’s AI, trained on several million audits and photos, brings together all the expertise in energy renovation and thermal engineering to provide efficiency and reliability to renovation professionals.
Kelvin is already deployed among contractors, matchmaking platforms, and real estate agencies. Currently operating in France with a team of 12 people, Kelvin aims to become the reference in the field of energy renovation of residential housing.
On why we invested, Felix Martinez from our investment team comments:
‘We believe Europe has an edge to produce a picks-and-shovels winner in the gold rush that is energy-efficient renovations in real estate. We’ve met a number of teams building in this space and the seasoned founding trio of Clementine, Pierre and Guillaume stood out to us on many different levels. We’re super excited to back them on this journey.’
We are excited to participate in Kelvin’s first fundraising round of €5 million led by Racine² (impact fund by Serena x makesense), alongside Raise Capital, Kima Ventures, Motier Ventures, and several business angels in the renovation sector.
For more information visit go-kelvin.com.
