Sero

Cardiff-based Sero (sero.group) was founded in 2017 by James Williams and Andy Sutton to help decarbonise the residential housing sector. The founders, leveraging their extensive backgrounds in energy and housing, aimed to create simple, affordable solutions for building and retrofitting homes to be more environmentally friendly. Williams, the CEO, has a background as a Mechanical Engineer with experience in the automotive and renewable energy sectors, including project management for large-scale biomass projects. Sutton, the Chief Innovation Officer, is a chartered architect with previous roles at BRE and experience designing zero-carbon homes.

Sero operates primarily in the social housing market, partnering with landlords, housing associations, and developers to plan, fund, and implement large-scale retrofit programs. The company's business model is multifaceted, combining an energy-as-a-service offering with retrofit coordination and project delivery. Revenue is generated through several streams, including fees for their funded retrofit solution, which integrates private finance and grant funding, and a PAS 2035-compliant coordination service. They also provide bid support to help landlords secure government funding. The company has successfully raised $15.4M in funding over four rounds, with notable investors including Legal & General Capital and Hodge Bank, reaching a post-money valuation of $38.6M as of March 2023.

The core of Sero's offering is a comprehensive system designed to transition homes to net-zero carbon emissions. This involves installing a suite of technologies such as ground source heat pumps, solar panels, and battery storage. A key product is the 'Building Energy Engine' (The BEE), a smart home energy management system that optimises energy usage based on factors like weather and resident behavior patterns. This is complemented by the 'Sero Life' customer platform, an app that allows residents to set comfort preferences, which the system then meets in the most cost-effective and low-carbon way. This platform aggregates homes into a virtual power plant, enabling bulk energy purchasing and providing demand-side response services to the national grid, which helps balance renewable energy generation. For residents, this translates to a simplified, fixed monthly bill for guaranteed comfort, rather than paying per kilowatt-hour.

Keywords: residential decarbonisation, retrofit solutions, social housing, energy-as-a-service, smart home energy, net-zero homes, virtual power plant, property technology, sustainable housing, cleantech