Building of the Viessmann Maschinenraum in Berlin
VC/O

New fields of business – we open up new opportunities for the future

We accept the challenge

Digitalization creates new challenges for us that we boldly take up. We don’t just want to keep an eye on developments in new markets; we want to actively shape them, invest in digital business models, and gain digital know-how. In 2017, we established the VC/O digital unit to master the challenges of digitalization. 

The image shows the building of the Viessmann Maschinenraum in Berlin
The image shows the stage at Maschinenraum.
The image shows employees work on the white board in Maschinenraum
The image shows a working situation at WattX.

Safeguarding the future through risk diversification

Our economic environment is in a state of constant change. The pace of change, however, has increased significantly recently. One driver of this development is climate change and the energy revolution that goes with it, which has created new challenges for Viessmann in its core business. Another propelling force is digitalization. It is changing our company processes and how we interact with our partners and customers. Digitalization ultimately also produces new business models that compete with our core business.

Thanks to VC/O, we not only monitor developments but actively shape them and invest in the future. Our goal here is to ensure long-term prospects for the Group and the operational business areas, while also making a contribution to the future viability of the economic environment in Central Europe. All digital activities of the Viessmann family that do not belong to the core business are currently organized under VC/O. The Directors of VC/O are Tobias Rappers and Professor Dr. Markus Pfuhl.

The most important part of VC/O is the Berlin-based Maschinenraum – a platform made by and for medium-sized companies. The Maschinenraum is a shared innovation ecosystem that brings together German medium-sized and family-owned companies to address future issues and drive the digital transformation of medium-sized companies. 

The image shows the managing directors of VC/O Tobias Rappers and Prof. Dr. Markus Pfuhl.

The companies under the umbrella of VC/O

The open medium-sized company platform Maschinenraum, the company builder WATTx, and the venture capitalists Vito One and Vito Ventures are all included under the VC/O umbrella. The Maschinenraum is at the center of our network. It is a place of work, learning, and events. Its purpose is to empower German medium-sized companies to understand future issues and get them to actively shape the future. The contact person for these areas is Markus Pfuhl: drp@viessmann.com.

The image shows the building of the Maschinenraum in Berlin

Maschinenraum

The Maschinenraum is a catalyst and pioneer of industrial change and supports its member companies by sharing knowledge, resources, methods, and infrastructure with them. With its network of established companies, start-ups, and innovation drivers, it enables its members to learn from each other and together build the next generation of medium-sized companies.

Maschinenraum website
The image shows a WATTx employee at the computer.

WATTx

WATTx is our company builder. Good ideas are transformed here into vital new companies in three to six months. WATTx focuses on logistics, manufacturing, and industrial IoT. At the moment it is focusing particularly on construction tech.

WATTx website
The image shows a group of people taking notes; as a symbol, weighing investments beforehand.

Vito ONE

Thanks to the venture capitalist Vito One, we invest in start-ups that make a difference both within their industry and beyond. Vito ONE is a seed investor that gets financially involved in PropTech, construction tech, and energy tech start-ups at a very early stage. These new business models are very close to our core business.

The image shows the team of Vito Ventures.

Vito Ventures

Vito Ventures comes in at a later phase and invests in deep-tech start-ups, which are involved in areas that are further removed from our core business: from distributed ledger technology to new-age enterprise software. For us, excellent engineering and radical entrepreneurial thinking are crucial if you want to master the challenges of the decades to come. That’s why we invest here.

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