LOCATION
German Battery Founders Prove Geography Can Be Arbitrage
Furo's three founders left Silicon Valley, returned to Germany and still raised $4 million from mostly U.S. backers. The startup builds software for industrial battery storage, a problem the founders argue is more urgent in Europe, and has already landed customers including Deutsche Bahn.
The move challenges the lazy version of startup geography. Furo kept U.S. capital access while lowering costs and getting closer to the customer problem. For founders, the lesson is not to romanticize distance from Silicon Valley; it is to use location as a deliberate operating advantage.
Source: TechCrunch · September 10, 2026