Munich Startup: What does Point Twelve do? What problem do you solve?
Flore de Durfort: Point Twelve is an IoT and SaaS platform that enables manufacturers of energy-intensive goods to easily and continuously certify their production as “green.” For manufacturers of sustainable fuels, gases, chemicals, fertilizers, and materials such as steel and cement, Point Twelve promises a 90 percent time savings in overall low-carbon certification processes. We are focusing first on manufacturers of a commodity that is at the heart of industrial decarbonization: Hydrogen.
Our solution makes it easy for these producers to prove the renewable origin of their energy, quantify carbon emissions dynamically based on operational data, obtain government-recognized certificates, and earn the highest environmental premium from them.
All this is done in a cost-efficient and plannable way. And not as before with manual, costly, non-transparent, unpredictable and non-scalable certification and verification processes.
Point Twelve combines knowledge of energy markets with tech know-how and product design
Munich Startup: But that’s nothing out of the box!
Flore de Durfort: Indeed! It’s about embedding sustainability into the technology stack of a company’s production site. This is a real challenge. Our “unfair advantage” probably lies in our team – a diverse and competent team at the intersection of “reg” and “tech.” We offer a good mix, combining knowledge of energy markets and regulation, technology development and user-centric product design. This distinguishes us from pure “tech” or “tech-first” teams, which we believe cannot be successful without expertise. It’s not (just) about building a complex technology. Rather, it’s about solving an industry-wide problem where boundaries like solutions lie in regulation.
Munich Startup: What’s your founding story?
Flore de Durfort: Point Twelve is a 3P story: People, Purpose and Passion! It is the story of three French people based in Munich who are passionate about the energy transition and very motivated to “decarbonize” the industry faster. It is the story of “having a crush” in the professional sense, when we founders met during joint data and technology projects at E.ON. And it is ultimately also the story of three people who met on the brink of war in Ukraine and took up the challenge of putting all their energy and skills at the service of a meaningful cause: industrial decarbonization, energy security, industrial leadership in sustainability.
Munich Startup: What have been your biggest challenges so far?
Flore de Durfort: To start from scratch! Because we wanted to have as comprehensive an understanding as possible of the challenges we wanted to solve. To do this, we went by every trick in the book and conducted 80 interviews with customers and experts before we had written a single line of code. We are big fans of the “lean startup” method.
Green certification should be embedded dynamically, continuously and transparently
Munich Startup: Where would you like to be in one year, and where in five years?
Flore de Durfort: Our goal is to show that green certification can be dynamic, continuous, transparent and embedded in the company’s production operations.
We are initially focusing on an important part of industrial decarbonization: hydrogen. In a year, we want to have rolled out our SaaS solution to so many hydrogen production sites that we can show how we turn complex supply chain data into understandable, verifiable sustainability reports backed by government-approved certificates. And we’re doing it all in the most streamlined and automated way possible for manufacturers. Within the next year, we want to prove that by solving this challenge for hydrogen, we are simultaneously solving an overarching problem.
In five years, we want Point Twelve to be the reference technology for tracking and verifying the decarbonization of industrial products. Like TÜV, only better, faster, technology-based and agile!
Munich: Caring and challenging
Munich Startup: How have you experienced Munich as a startup location so far?
Flore de Durfort: A healthy mix of “caring” and “challenging”. Although we are not from Munich, we found an extremely well-suited ecosystem for our growth here. We were at the Technical University of Munich in the Xpreneurs Accelerator. Not only did we find great talent and a lot of expertise on the energy transition here, but also numerous industry partners and startup allies.
And because a startup is first and foremost the people who drive it forward: Munich turns out to be a very good place to raise kids! Point Twelve was founded by three young parents and nature lovers who strive to balance family and work. Would we in Paris be able to go to the Alps almost every weekend to recharge our batteries? Certainly not!
Munich Startup: Hidden Champion or Shooting Star?
Flore de Durfort: Shooting Star!