Greentech Festival 2021 Interview mit Markus Puhl - Airive Gründer

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT

Opening: We are live at the Greentech Festival from Berlin Mitte and right now i am standing at the booth of Airive, which is a company who is reducing the carbon emissions by a digital tool. That is super interesting and joining me is Markus, you are the CEO of Airive. Thank you very much for joining me.

Markus: Hi, yes - you are welcome!

Tim: Markus what's so special for you about the Green Tech Festival?

Markus: Well, the Green Tech Festival in Berlin is the coolest place in this hot town today. So you have to be there and you have to be here. It's a great audience and a good place to be. So for us, a good exhibition to show our skills.

Tim: What is the product you're presenting? I was talking about a digital tool.

Markus: Yes. You know, mobility is an essential need for every company to meet customers, to meet clients and to meet partners. And we feel that initially the mobility needs to be upgraded in terms of fulfilling the necessarities of the 21st century. So we digitaliize it and bring it to a higher level.

Tim: And how did you come up with the idea?

Markus: Well, I was working in this industry for more than 25 years. And I brought in my experience and brought it together with digital skills of my partners and developers. And we developed a platform software so far.

Tim: And is it already in use or is it just presenting here?

Markus: No, it's in use. We are actually one year old. So we had our anniversary last month. And we already have five customers using this platform and they are very satisfied with it.

Tim: What kind of customers do you have?

Markus: We have 100% approach towards B to B customer. So companies that operate a car fleet or do business travel and we help them digitalize this complete process.

Tim: But your key market is in Germany, right?

Markus: Yes, we start in Germany, but we are aiming for Europe and international.

Tim: And what is your contribution to a more sustainable world?

Markus: We show up the mobility managers, what kind of mobility to purchase to reduce their carbon footprint significantly.

Tim: How important is it that the tool you're using is easy to handle?

Markus: It's really important because our target group is really analog. They use Fax, they use email, they use Excel files, and we completely digitalized this process and we do it like we say in Germany “Kinderleicht”.

Tim: How is the feedback of your customers?

Markus: Very positive. It's easy to use. It's a guided user experience, so really easy. Just test it out and you will see that it's going to work.

Tim: And you're also minimizing personal individual mobility, right?

Markus: Yes, that's right. We have a three step approach. First, we show up the carbon footprint and how to reduce it to avoid mobility. And then to compensate.

Tim: And can your data help to speeding up the build of charging infrastructure as well?

Markus: Yes, we show up the target leading mobility. And then when it comes to electrifying a car fleet for instance, you can additionally approach the complete necessary charging infrastructure structure in our platform. So it's a one stop shopping event.

Tim: And you are quite young. You said you had your one year birthday at the company. What was the biggest challenge so far for you?

Markus: Yes. Gaining investments because during the time of COVID, it was really hard meeting investors to presenting this, let's say, complex platform software tool, and we're hoping that it's going to now be more liberated and more flexible to do it.

Tim: Did you change your business mobility, your business in general, because of covert as well?

Markus: Yes. In the first half of last year, all of the world was talking about reducing costs. In the second half, the CO2 or the carbon footprint came up and became unbeatable today. So we really needed to focus our approach towards the sustainable mobility, which was in the beginning in our mindset, but then came to proof.

Tim: And you were mentioning the investors, which are important for you as this step right now, what are you looking for at the Green Tech Festival in general?

Markus: Yes, it's impact investment. That's right. So our investors are aiming the same than we do, doing an impact significantly reducing the carbon footprint of corporate mobility.

Tim: And how important is sustainability for you in your daily routine?

Markus: It's kind of my DNA, I would say, because I live in a carbon neutral house, so we are operating with energy supply that is carbon neutral. So it's part of the game. So 100%, I would say.

Tim: And what did you learn so far at the Green Tech Festival?

Markus: This form of trades or fares are going to change. I see a lot of people sitting here with their laptops being online, interacting with people coming around, so it's going to be a hybrid version, I would guess in the future. So it's really interesting, I think to see this coming back to life.

Tim: And will you join us next year as well?

Markus: Definitely.

Tim: Thanks a lot, Marcus, for joining us this time, and hopefully we'll see you next year. Take care and all the best for you.

Markus: Thanks, same for you. Bye bye.