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Home energy renovation copilot

Plume is an energy renovation copilot that helps real estate agents and contractors with energy audits and renovation planning. Our first customer, a real estate marketplace, uses Plume to provide potential buyers with precise energy renovation scenarios, cutting the time to sell a house in half. Using thermodynamic models, public housing data, satellite imagery and AI, Plume enables remote energy assessments of any building. In Europe alone, 35 million homes face regulatory pressure to be retrofitted within the next 5 years, and 220 million over the next 25 years. Plume leverages the founding team's unique expertise: Marc, a Harvard satellite researcher; JB, a thermodynamics engineer; and Edouard, a sales and product builder from Palantir.

Plume
Founded:2024
Team Size:3
Location:Paris, France
Group Partner:David Lieb

Active Founders

Edouard Labarthe, Founder

Unlocking Home Energy Efficiency Mechanical engineer and Data scientist - Lived in 8 different countries across the world. Built a first company at uni and grew it to 200k ARR. Spent the last 2 year at Palantir building software for energy companies.

Edouard Labarthe
Edouard Labarthe
Plume

Marc Watine, Founder

Unlocking Home Energy Efficiency. Computer Scientist + AI from ETH Zürich. Researcher in Climate & Remote Sensing at Harvard / UN

Marc Watine
Marc Watine
Plume

Jean-Baptiste de La Fage, Founder/CTO

Grew up in Paris, studied Thermodynamics and Energy optimisation in Switzerland and Hong Kong. Worked for 2 years in the renewable energy industry in Madrid. Now focused on making homes more energy-efficient, "the best renewable energy is the energy you don't use."

Jean-Baptiste de La Fage
Jean-Baptiste de La Fage
Plume

Company Launches

TLDR:

Have you ever wondered how to improve your home energy efficiency to reduce electricity bills and comply with stricter regulations?

But where should you start? Plume helps you at every step of the improvement journey, making the process seamless. Try it out for your home!

Meet the founding team behind PLUME - JB, Marc & Edouard!

❌ The problem:

Electricity prices are on the rise, and regulations, especially in Europe, are getting tougher on home energy efficiency requirements.

For example, in France, 20% of homes are not able to be rented because of their low energy efficiency rating. That’s 7 million homes in need of solutions. Homeowners like Roman, one of our first clients, needed to take action. He has a house in the Pyrenees, where his energy bill has increased by 60% in a year.

  1. The first step he did was assess the current energy efficiency of his home. It cost him hundreds of dollars for an expert to visit his house.
  2. The second step was to understand what options were available for his specific house. Was it installing an HVAC, insulating his walls, or even controlling his EV charging?
  3. The third step was to choose the best option. He had to understand prices, government subsidies, the impact on his energy bill, and the overall return on investment. Roman had to call a dozen contractors.
  4. The final step was to find trusted contractors to do the work.

Roman never completed his home energy efficiency project. It took him months, required extensive research, involved dozens of different people, and introduced a lot of opportunities for error.

That’s what Plume is here to change for Roman and all homeowners.

✅ The solution:

On your personal account, you start by answering a few simple questions to assess your home. Then, our AI software uses thermodynamic models, public housing data, energy consumption data, and satellite imagery to compute your current energy efficiency.

Next, we find the most cost-effective solutions for your specific house to increase your energy efficiency. You get an instant price, factoring in government subsidies, ROI, and installment time. All in one click.

Finally, select what fits your needs, and we will connect you with our network of selected and trained contractors and ensure the work is done.

Plume helps you at every step of that journey, making the process seamless, trustworthy, and 10 times faster.

📈 The market:

With energy prices going up, homeowners are now pressured by their energy bills and regulations to care about building efficiency. The good news is that homes are electrifying enabling new tools to improve their home energy efficiency.

Looking only at France: 20% of houses are not able to be rented because of their low energy efficiency rating. That’s 7 million homes requiring an average home energy renovation of $20k. This represents $140B in renovation that will be done in the next three years.

🙏 Our Ask:

Test it out in your house! Our energy efficiency models work on any property in the world despite the subsidies currently being tailored to France.

If you or a friend are looking to improve their home energy efficiency or know people in the space, please reach out founders@plumefinder.com!

Try it out for your home

YC Sign Photo

YC Sign Photo