Bees & Bears

What Bees & Bears does

Bees & Bears GmbH is a Berlin-based climate fintech founded in 2023 by Jakob von Egidy and Marius Schondelmaier that operates an embedded finance platform enabling German installation businesses (Handwerksbetriebe) to offer installment purchase (Ratenkauf) financing for residential renewable energy systems, including photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, battery storage, and EV wallboxes. The platform delivers real-time credit decisions in roughly three seconds, supports terms from one to twenty-five years, integrates directly with manufacturer pricing for 150+ equipment suppliers, and is embedded into the Reonic proposal software used by over 1,000 installers. The end-customer flow is 100% digital with no down payment, free early repayment, and automatic pre-financing of state subsidies.

The business model is transaction-based: Bees & Bears earns a spread between its wholesale funding cost and the rate charged to the end customer on each originated loan, with installers paying no partnership fees and receiving direct disbursement. The capital base is anchored by a €500 million senior debt facility from a listed, ECB-supervised DACH bank, structured with legal support from Linklaters, alongside €2 million in pre-seed funding raised in 2024 and a €5 million seed round closed in October 2025 co-led by Extantia Capital and Contrarian Ventures. The €500 million facility is sized to finance approximately 25,000 installations. Headcount sits in the 11–50 range and is explicitly targeted to triple following the seed round.

Commercially the company pursues a B2B2C go-to-market in which installers are the primary customer and homeowners are the end beneficiary, with a secondary self-serve channel for homeowners. The stated forward strategy is to expand into commercial and industrial (C&I) customers and into neighboring European markets. Distribution is concentrated through the Reonic software partnership, while marketing relies on the company website, demo booking, and earned press coverage in climate and fintech publications. The company claims the position of the largest independent financing partner for PV systems and heat pumps in Germany, citing a 30–40% revenue uplift reported by partner installers that adopt the installment option.

Name

Bees & Bears

Legal name

Bees & Bears GmbH

Website

https://beesandbears.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Bees & Bears is a Berlin-based climate fintech that provides an embedded finance platform enabling German installers to offer installment financing for residential renewable energy systems, including solar PV, heat pumps, batteries, and wallboxes. It serves SMB trade businesses and homeowners via a B2B2C model backed by a €500M debt facility.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Installment Purchase Financing: Bees & Bears earns revenue through financing fees and interest charged on installment purchases of renewable energy systems. The company provides the financing infrastructure enabling installers to offer installment payment options to end customers, with revenue generated from the spread between funding costs and customer repayment terms.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Bees & Bears operates a digital embedded finance platform (Ratenkaufplattform) that enables installation businesses in Germany to offer installment purchasing for residential renewable energy systems, including photovoltaic panels, heat pumps, battery storage units, and EV charging wallboxes. The platform provides real-time credit decisions, digital paperless document processing, and direct payouts to installers, with flexible terms from 1 to 25 years and rates starting at €99 per month.

Product overview

Bees & Bears operates as a Climate-FinTech providing an embedded finance platform for renewable energy technologies. The core product is the Ratenkaufplattform (Installment Purchase Platform) which enables craft businesses/installers to offer installment financing for PV systems, heat pumps, and battery storage directly during customer consultations. The platform integrates with Reonic's proposal software and is backed by a €500 million financing framework from a European bank. The company targets both residential homeowners and plans to expand into commercial & industrial (C&I) segments across European markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Bees & Bears Ratenkaufplattform (Installment Purchase Platform) Digital embedded finance platform that enables craft businesses (installers of solar panels, heat pumps, battery storage, and wallboxes) to offer installment purchase options to customers directly during the consultation process, with real-time credit decisions, flexible terms from 1-25 years, and direct payouts to installers.
• Endkunden-Ratenkauf (Consumer Installment Purchase) Installment purchase financing for private customers (homeowners) seeking renewable energy systems including PV panels, heat pumps, and battery storage, with monthly rates starting at €99, no down payment required, and free early repayment options.
• Ratenkauf für Installateure (Installer Installment Offering) Solution for installation businesses that enables them to offer 100% down-payment-free installment purchases with free special repayments to their customers, with installers able to create installment offers in under 3 minutes, automatic credit checking, and direct payment.

Quantifiable outcome

• 30-40% revenue increase for partner installers offering installment purchasing
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability1 record

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ReoniccoreTechnology or Integration · 23 September 2025Strategic partnership integrating Bees & Bears installment purchase options directly into Reonic quotation software for renewable energy installers. Over 1,000 installation businesses using Reonic gain access to financing options within their existing workflow. Expected to generate up to €100M in additional financing transactions. The partnership enables seamless transition from planning to financing in a single software platform.
• LinklatersminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting Partner · 20 January 2025Law firm supported implementation of the €500M financing framework with the European bank partner.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Enpal: Enpal is Germany's leading one-stop-shop for solar leasing and heat-pump installation with its own captive financing; it is the most direct competitive threat as it bundles proprietary consumer financing with installation, mirroring the buyer journey that Bees & Bears enables for independent installers.
• 1Komma5°: 1Komma5° is a large German climate-tech installation platform offering solar, heat pumps, and EV charging with integrated financing, directly competing for installer partnerships and end-customer origination that Bees & Bears targets.
• Zolar: Zolar is a German online solar marketplace that connects homeowners with installers and increasingly offers financing solutions, overlapping Bees & Bears' homeowner-facing channel and installer-network value proposition.

Broad incumbents

• Solaris (Solaris SE): Solaris is a Berlin-based Banking-as-a-Service platform enabling embedded finance, including consumer and SME credit; it is a broader incumbent that could enable or compete with Bees & Bears' embedded lending infrastructure.
• Younited Credit: Younited is a European consumer-credit fintech originating installment loans across multiple categories; it represents a broader incumbent in instant-decision consumer lending that could pivot into climate-tech financing.
• KfW: KfW is Germany's state development bank providing subsidized climate-tech loans; it is a broader incumbent whose subsidy terms set the competitive benchmark for Bees & Bears' private financing offering.

Regional players

• Auxmoney: Auxmoney is a German digital consumer and SME lending platform; comparable as a regional consumer-lending competitor with potential overlap in home-improvement and sustainability-linked credit use cases.

Others

• Tink (Visa): Tink is a Visa-owned open-banking platform providing account-data and payment-initiation infrastructure; it is an adjacent enabler of the bank-connectivity and credit-assessment capabilities underpinning Bees & Bears' instant decisioning.

Emerging players

• Storfund: Storfund provides financing solutions to solar and renewable-energy installers in Europe; an emerging niche player with partial overlap in installer-channel climate-tech lending.
• Lendis: Lendis provides equipment financing to SMEs and trades, an emerging fintech adjacent to Bees & Bears' trades-focused embedded credit proposition.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bees-and-bears

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Bees & Bears