Sensorberg

Sensorberg was founded in 2016 as a SaaS + IoT play focused on making buildings interactive. The company's core insight was that the future of building management wouldn't be dominated by proprietary solutions from giants like GE or Siemens, but rather by open platforms where multiple startups could contribute their own apps and integrations.

The product started with digital access control as the first interaction layer, then expanded to include sensors, actors like heating valves, temperature sensors, and lighting controls. The company manufactures its own hardware—door controllers—with a current cost of over 200 euros per unit. Michael von Roder took over as CEO from the founders (who remain involved as board members), inheriting a 30-person team in a "difficult place."

Sensorberg started with co-working spaces like Mindspace and WeWork, where the solution added significant value by making member apps smarter and integrating them with the physical space. This became the wedge for enterprise deals. One customer, Unicorn (a co-working space in Berlin), went from one space to six spaces in just two months and is projected to reach 20 spaces by the following year. The sales cycle is long—typically one year for enterprise customers—but once a customer adopts the hardware, there is zero churn.

The biggest success has been customer retention and expansion. With hardware installed as "Trojan Horses" into buildings, Sensorberg has achieved zero churn in its entire company history. Customers expand naturally as they open new locations, allowing Sensorberg to grow with them without additional sales effort. Net revenue retention is definitely above 100% due to expansion, though the small customer base (20 logos) makes statistical SaaS metrics difficult to calculate. The company is currently generating about 2.5 million euros in total annual revenue, with approximately 20% recurring (about 500k euros in ARR or ~574k USD). The challenge is the hardware business, which carries 50% margins but subsidizes adoption. To scale the SaaS business, Sensorberg needs to reduce per-unit hardware costs from over 200 euros to under 100 euros, which requires increasing batch sizes from 200-500 units to 5,000+ units through their China sourcing partners.

Sensorberg is raising $3 million to achieve break-even by late 2019/early 2020, targeting a $20 million pre-money valuation. The company is managing 5,000 installed doors across 20 customer logos and aiming to grow SaaS revenue from $50k/month to $7 million annually. The long-term vision is to eventually give hardware away for free and make money purely through SaaS subscriptions (priced at ~$10/door/month plus per-unit fees for additional sensors and actors).