Vienna Energy Tech Heizma Targets €23 Million in Revenue for 2026
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Expensive heating oil is bad for household budgets but good for Heizma’s business.
Vienna-based energy tech Heizma generated €2.6 million in revenue in October, more than in any month since it was founded in March 2024. In April, the startup had crossed the €2 million monthly revenue mark for the first time. For the full year 2026, Heizma now expects revenue of €23 million, and it aims to reach around €100 million within a few years. The team has grown to around 90 employees.
Expensive Heating Oil as a Growth Driver
Energy prices are providing a tailwind. According to Statistics Austria, heating oil has become 63.1 percent more expensive within a year, and the Austrian Energy Agency’s energy price index was 15.1 percent above the previous year in September. Accordingly, almost all customers come from the fossil fuel world: in October, 58 percent switched from gas heating and 33 percent from oil heating. 48 percent opted for a heat pump, 30 percent for a photovoltaic system and 22 percent for both. Heizma currently retrofits more than 80 homes per month.
"The heating transition in private homes is not only an economic issue but increasingly a question of sovereignty," says co-founder and managing director Michael Kowatschew, who founded Heizma together with Alexander Valtingojer and Valentin Perkonigg. Demand is growing fastest in Lower Austria, where installations rose by around 132 percent in the first half of the year, compared with around 82 percent across Austria. In Carinthia, two thirds of Heizma’s new heat pumps replace an old oil heating system.
Heizma vs. fonio.ai: Same League, Different Game
At €23 million, Heizma is in the same range as one of the country’s fastest-growing AI startups. Vienna-based fonio.ai, also around two years old, builds AI phone agents for businesses and recently reported around $19 million in ARR, with a goal of $30 million or more by the end of the year. The two are also close in headcount, with fonio.ai employing around 140 people.
Still, the figures are only partly comparable. Heizma’s €23 million is expected revenue for the full year, money from heating systems actually sold and installed. Fonio.ai’s ARR, by contrast, annualizes its current subscription base; the revenue it actually earns this year will be considerably lower, since the startup started the year at just over $1 million in ARR. On the other hand, software margins are far higher than those on heat pumps, which require in-house installation teams. Investors therefore value fonio.ai at a multiple of its ARR, while Heizma, as an installer with a software backbone, is more likely to be judged on traditional metrics.
Competition for the Digital Installer
Heizma positions itself as a "digital installer" with digital site surveys, integrated subsidy processing and its own energy management software. Germany’s much larger Enpal and 1Komma5° pursue a similar model, though both have recently struggled with the slump in the solar market. The Austrian heat pump market, which had recently collapsed, also shows how heavily the business depends on energy prices and subsidies. The federal government plans to revive heating system replacement and thermal renovation with €500 million for its 2027 renovation offensive.
