The startup plancraft has received 12 million euros in a Series A financing round. The round was led by Creandum, which also supports Bolt, Klarna and Spotify. plancraft plans to drive digitalization in the skilled trades and expand beyond the DACH region. The TU Hamburg team was supported in its business development by Startup Port @TUHH and Startup Port.
The skilled trades face numerous challenges such as a shortage of skilled workers, bureaucratic hurdles and uncertain material prices. This is where plancraft comes in: The company offers a software solution that digitizes various work processes. These include invoicing, price calculation, construction site documentation and time recording. With this solution, trade businesses can increase their efficiency and concentrate better on their core business.
Successful financing round
plancraft recently raised 12 million euros in a Series A financing round. The round was led by the Swedish venture capital firm Creandum, which has also invested in Klarna and Spotify, among others. Existing investors include Bitstone Capital and High-Tech Gründerfonds. Back in September 2022, plancraft announced seed financing of 1.9 million euros.
Expansion and future plans
With the new capital, plancraft plans to expand beyond the DACH region and aims to become the leading software for tradespeople in Europe. The company wants to strengthen its market position and further develop the product in order to offer even more digitalization options to craft businesses.
Positive feedback from the field
Customers confirm the benefits of the plancraft software. Jeroen Smeelen, Managing Director of Holzbau Lübber GmbH, emphasizes how important the software has been for his company: “Without plancraft, I would not have been able to overcome the challenges of the past year. The software simplifies many processes and allows me to concentrate on my craft.”
Founding history with Startup Port
The startup plancraft received the one-year EXIST start-up grant from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) in January 2020. The Startup Port @TUHH and the Startup Port provided advice during the application process. In the meantime, the startup was also provided with affordable premises in the Startup Port in Hamburg’s Schloßstraße. plancraft was then founded in February 2020 by Julian Wiedenhaus, Alexander Noll and Richard Keil.
The founders of plancraft
From left: Alexander Noll, Richard Keil and Julian Wiedenhaus (Photo: Anne Gärtner)
Alex has a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). At the same time, he trained as an energy expert at the Elbcampus. He also completed a Master’s degree in International Business and Engineering at the TUHH and graduated in 2019. He was already interested in software development during his studies, continued his self-taught training and took on working student jobs as a developer. During one of these jobs, he met Richard at Etventure, a subsidiary of the management consultancy Ernst & Young. Alex has a background in craftsmanship, as his father owns the Noll joinery in Tostedt near Hamburg, where Alex grew up.
Richard is Alex’s mentor at Etventure. He is the IT expert in the team, started with an apprenticeship as an IT specialist and gained many years of professional experience in web design/web development in agencies, corporate startups and consultancies. As a full stack developer (i.e. he can program frontend and backend), he has been working full-time at plancraft like the others since the end of 2019. Richard was born in Munich.
Julian is a trained mechanical engineer. In the form of a dual study program at Airbus in Bremen, he completed both an apprenticeship as an aircraft mechanic and a Bachelor of Engineering at Bremen University of Applied Sciences. Like his co-founder and fellow student Alex, he completed his Master’s degree in International Business and Engineering at the TUHH and graduated in 2018. Parallel to plancraft, Julian is still working as a project manager at Airbus until 2019. He comes from Bielefeld.
plancraft’s success story
Their joint company serves more than 10,000 customers, currently employs over 40 people and has already handled construction projects worth almost one billion euros with its software. The digitalization solution from plancraft is an important step towards making trade businesses more efficient and future-proof.
plancraft.de
Startup Port bündelt die Unterstützungsangebote und Gründungsberatung von zehn Hochschulen und Forschungseinrichtungen aus der Metropolregion Hamburg, Niedersachsen (Lüneburg) und Schleswig-Holstein (Wedel & Geesthacht) für Studierende, Forschende und Absolvent*innen bei der Vorbereitung ihrer technologie- und wissensorientierten Existenzgründungen. Informationen, Beratung, News und Evens.
