# terralayr
terralayr is a Swiss-headquartered energy flexibility company that develops, owns, and operates grid-scale battery storage in Germany and sells access to battery capacity, both its own and third-party, through its cloud-style LAYR platform. The company was co-founded by Philipp Man and Ludwig Wurlitzer, operates from Zug and Berlin, and was active as of January 2026, when it announced a €192 million equity raise led by Eurazeo's infrastructure division.[2](https://www.trlyr.com/insights/terralayr-announces-192m-equity-raise-with-eurazeo-and-partners/)
## Key facts
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founders | Philipp Man (CEO) and Ludwig Wurlitzer (COO), previously co-founders of luxury watch marketplace CHRONEXT[3](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/) |
| Founded | 2023 per the company's media kit; 2022 per ESS News and the company's own earlier release[1](https://www.trlyr.com/media-kit/) • [4](https://www.ess-news.com/2026/01/20/terralayr-secured-major-funding-to-scale-its-battery-storage-ambitions/) |
| Headquarters | Zug and Berlin[1](https://www.trlyr.com/media-kit/) |
| Sector | Grid-scale battery storage and energy flexibility-as-a-service[5](https://creandum.com/commitments/terralayr/) |
| Funding | €62M equity plus €15M debt by October 2024; €192M announced January 2026 (company figure)[3](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/) • [2](https://www.trlyr.com/insights/terralayr-announces-192m-equity-raise-with-eurazeo-and-partners/) |
| Investors | Eurazeo (infrastructure), RIVE Private Investment, Creandum, Earlybird, Norrsken VC, Picus Capital[2](https://www.trlyr.com/insights/terralayr-announces-192m-equity-raise-with-eurazeo-and-partners/) • [3](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/) |
| German asset base | More than 150 MW operating or under construction, close to 200 MW ready-to-build, 8 GW secured pipeline (company figures)[2](https://www.trlyr.com/insights/terralayr-announces-192m-equity-raise-with-eurazeo-and-partners/) |
| Status | Active as of January 2026 per independent reporting[4](https://www.ess-news.com/2026/01/20/terralayr-secured-major-funding-to-scale-its-battery-storage-ambitions/) |
## History and founding
The two founders come from commerce rather than utilities. Philipp Man and Ludwig Wurlitzer previously co-founded CHRONEXT, a luxury watch marketplace, where Man was CEO and [Wurlitzer](https://www.edgepedia.org/wurlitzer) led operations and platform development. Man's earlier career included a role in the middle distillate jet fuel team at Glencore and time with the Energy Practice at [Boston Consulting Group](https://www.edgepedia.org/boston-consulting-group).[3](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/) • [1](https://www.trlyr.com/media-kit/)
The founding date is recorded inconsistently. The company's media kit says terralayr was founded in 2023,[1](https://www.trlyr.com/media-kit/) while an ESS News report describes it as founded in 2022.[4](https://www.ess-news.com/2026/01/20/terralayr-secured-major-funding-to-scale-its-battery-storage-ambitions/) The company's early backers were RIVE Private Investment, Creandum, Earlybird, Norrsken VC, and Picus Capital, the investor group named at the October 2024 raise.[3](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/)
## Product and technology: the LAYR platform
**What terralayr sells is capacity, not hardware.** The company aggregates grid-scale energy storage assets, bundles and virtualizes them, then sells off the capacity in durations from 15 minutes to 15 years. Man has drawn an explicit analogy to AWS: Amazon aggregates computing resources and sells fractions of them, and terralayr does the same for batteries.[3](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/)
LAYR is the platform through which this works. It aggregates and virtualizes both owned and third-party battery assets into one cloud-like environment, and offtakers procure capacity through auctions, structured products, or API-driven transactions.[1](https://www.trlyr.com/media-kit/) Battery owners and optimizers can rent out or procure flexibility under tolling agreements (contracts renting battery capacity for a fixed fee) of different durations and sizes.[6](https://www.energy-storage.news/german-bess-flexibility-platform-and-operator-terralayr-raises-e192-million/)
Monetisation on LAYR spans three routes: merchant optimization through an "ETF-Model", tolling dispatched via the platform, and terralayr's Virtual Battery Auctions, which run 1- to 7-day contracts. Tolls can run 5 to 7 years, as with the [Vattenfall](https://www.edgepedia.org/vattenfall) and RWE deals. As of the January 2026 raise, Man said LAYR had more than 50 MW of battery energy storage live with 100 MW more to come.[6](https://www.energy-storage.news/german-bess-flexibility-platform-and-operator-terralayr-raises-e192-million/)
## Funding and investors
The funding record contains a conflict worth stating plainly.
- **October 2024.** [TechCrunch](https://www.edgepedia.org/techcrunch), in an interview with the CEO, reported €62 million in equity and €15 million in debt raised from Creandum, Earlybird, Norrsken VC, Picus Capital, and RIVE Private Investment. Man described it as "technically" a seed round.[3](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/) A funding database separately lists a €77 million October 2024 round from the same investor set; the underlying article was not retrieved, so the €77 million figure stands unverified.[7](https://funding.tech.eu/companies/5D144E0E-48B8-4799-A903-2EF53981544E)
- **January 2026.** According to the company's own release, terralayr closed two equity tranches totalling €192 million, including an €80 million upsizing option, led by Eurazeo's infrastructure division with existing shareholders including RIVE Private Investment participating. Man said a majority of the funding goes to the company's own assets and a meaningful portion to developing LAYR.[2](https://www.trlyr.com/insights/terralayr-announces-192m-equity-raise-with-eurazeo-and-partners/) • [6](https://www.energy-storage.news/german-bess-flexibility-platform-and-operator-terralayr-raises-e192-million/) ESS News, reporting in the same month, described the company's last round as a €77 million (USD 90 million) Series C.[4](https://www.ess-news.com/2026/01/20/terralayr-secured-major-funding-to-scale-its-battery-storage-ambitions/) The €192 million figure is the better-supported one, being the company's own release corroborated by Energy-Storage.news; the database total of €289 million across three rounds as of July 2026 is likewise unverified beyond the database itself.[7](https://funding.tech.eu/companies/5D144E0E-48B8-4799-A903-2EF53981544E)
On investor character, only Creandum describes its own thesis publicly: it calls terralayr a battery storage player with an "energy flexibility-as-a-service" platform connecting battery asset owners with customers such as renewable energy generators or data centers.
## Business, customers and traction
**How terralayr earns revenue:** it charges battery owners a small percentage fee based on revenues, and if it operates a battery more profitably than a competitor would, it also takes a portion of the upside.[3](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/)
The asset base, per the company's own January 2026 release, comprises more than 150 MW of operating and under-construction battery assets in Germany, close to 200 MW ready-to-build, and a secured pipeline of 8 GW from in-house development and co-development partnerships, partially backed by tolling agreements with RWE and Vattenfall.[2](https://www.trlyr.com/insights/terralayr-announces-192m-equity-raise-with-eurazeo-and-partners/) These figures are company claims; independent reporting confirms the Vattenfall and RWE offtake deals on LAYR and adds that competing optimizers Entrix, Suena Energy, and The Mobility House Energy also optimize capacity via the platform.[6](https://www.energy-storage.news/german-bess-flexibility-platform-and-operator-terralayr-raises-e192-million/) The company says it employs around 50 sector specialists and names Stadtwerke Duisburg and STEAG Iqony Group as third-party partners on LAYR.[2](https://www.trlyr.com/insights/terralayr-announces-192m-equity-raise-with-eurazeo-and-partners/)
## References
1. [Media Kit - terralayr](https://www.trlyr.com/media-kit/)
2. [terralayr Announces €192m Equity Raise with Eurazeo and Partners](https://www.trlyr.com/insights/terralayr-announces-192m-equity-raise-with-eurazeo-and-partners/)
3. [Former watch trader is now building the AWS of grid storage, Terralayr | TechCrunch](https://techcrunch.com/2024/10/17/former-watch-trader-is-now-building-the-aws-of-grid-storage-terralayr/)
4. [Terralayr secured major funding to scale its battery storage ambitions - ESS News](https://www.ess-news.com/2026/01/20/terralayr-secured-major-funding-to-scale-its-battery-storage-ambitions/)
5. [terralayr — Creandum commitment page](https://creandum.com/commitments/terralayr/)
6. [German BESS flexibility platform and operator Terralayr raises €192 million - Energy-Storage.news](https://www.energy-storage.news/german-bess-flexibility-platform-and-operator-terralayr-raises-e192-million/)
7. [Terralayr — funding: €289M raised, 3 rounds · Tech.eu Funding Explorer](https://funding.tech.eu/companies/5D144E0E-48B8-4799-A903-2EF53981544E)
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