Oslo, 02 October 2025 – The Board of Directors and management of Otovo ASA (“Otovo”) today announce a strategic move to expand Otovo’s leasing and service offerings as a platform, open to installer companies across Europe. The company will move towards a new setup and organization as a result of the new strategy.
Otovo has, since its inception, marketed and sold exclusively through its own sales channels. The company has relied on a marketplace of installer companies to price and complete the installation work. With today’s announcement, Otovo removes the constraint of selling only through its own channels and will, starting immediately, offer its leasing and service products through installer companies across Europe.
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– We are the only company that offers leasing and lifetime servicing of solar, battery and EV charger systems on a European scale. But while we likely have the best products for homeowners who want to lower their energy bills, avoid high upfront costs, and be absolutely certain their systems work, we are constrained by distribution. We asked ourselves ‘why shouldn’t homeowners be able to get Otovo LEASING and Otovo CARE through their local electrician?’ After all, you can buy an iPhone in more places than Apple flagship stores, says Andreas Thorsheim, CEO of Otovo.
Otovo is reaching out to 300 installer companies in coming days, to offer them the Otovo LEASING and Otovo CARE products. The installer companies will be offered training, resources, and a fair share of the profit from these sales. Otovo’s leasing product expands their addressable market to homeowners who are constrained by financing or who prefer a full-service offering paid in monthly installments. The service product solves a problem the industry is facing - not having a proper aftermarket offering.
– The installer ecosystem in Europe consists of 100,000 or more small businesses that do great craftsmanship, but are under-resourced and cannot innovate on solutions that address the homeowners’ worries. We are changing that, says Thorsheim.
The change will make Otovo leaner, stronger, and more focused. The company will move resources to Otovo LEASING and Otovo SERVICE and away from marketing and in-house sales. Combined with a new organizational structure, this will reduce cost levels substantially.
The measures will establish Otovo as a leading pan-European platform company for distributed energy leasing and service, significantly reduce costs, and accelerate the path to profitability.
(1) STRATEGIC EVOLUTION
Otovo will have three business areas going forward:
1.1 Otovo Direct
In Italy and Poland, Otovo‘s largest and most consistently profitable markets, the company will maintain and grow its own local marketing and sales organizations. These markets are considered strategically important due to their size, growth potential, and favorable regulatory environments, making a dedicated In-house sales presence profitable.
The company’s own workforce in these markets will focus on customer engagement and sales, complementing the new partner-driven distribution model. Otovo Italy and Otovo Poland generate more than half of the group’s sales, consistently with above-average profitability.
In the rest of Europe, Otovo will use a combination of freelancers working on a commission-only basis, and installer companies, as distribution channels. This is a significantly lighter setup than today, allowing an extended reach with a small fixed cost base.
1.2 Otovo Leasing
Otovo will double down on leasing of solar and battery systems across Europe, solving the big financing hurdle for European homeowners to buy distributed energy systems. Distribution will mainly go through local installer companies and sales partners, providing broad reach without the need for large in-house sales teams and marketing investments. Otovo will keep distributing the leasing product through its own sales force in attractive geographies in Europe.
The leasing platform, operated with Swiss Life Asset Managers, is the only pan-European leasing solution, providing partners with standardized contracts, financing, payments, collection, and operational service support - enabling the partners to sell and earn more.
1.3 Otovo Care
Otovo Service (“Otovo CARE”) is a subscription-based proactive service and maintenance product - providing customers with remote monitoring, proactive fault detection, fast repairs, and discounted replacements. It is not an insurance product, and does not carry any liabilities for Otovo.
This service offering leverages Otovo’s pan-European network of installer partners, and centralized customer support function operated out of Madrid, providing multi-language customer service, collections, and operations, supported by a proprietary AI-driven system. It provides high-margin recurring revenue for Otovo.
Otovo launched CARE in Germany, Spain, Norway, and Sweden in August, and has built a portfolio of more than 3,300 members as of the end of September. Most customers have signed up for a 12-month period with payment upfront, resulting in NOK ~1,200 revenue per user per year. In addition, Otovo services nearly 10,000 systems on behalf of Swiss Life Asset Managers’ portfolio. The combined recurring revenue from Otovo CARE members and portfolio maintenance is approximately NOK 15 million.
(2) ORGANIZATIONAL REDESIGN
2.1 New Organization
Otovo is moving to a more outsourced distribution structure with fewer layers of management. Fabio Stefanini (CRO), Sasha Berson (CMO), and Petter Ulset (CFO) will leave the Group.
The organizational restructuring will affect all markets and functions, with most departures expected during Q4 2025. Severance costs will be booked in Q4, and the cash flow effect of a smaller organization will largely be realized from Q1 2026.
The Madrid hub remains the central platform for accounting, marketing, collections, and operations, delivering efficiency at scale for Otovo’s European markets.
2.2 Cost Effects
The change is expected to cut annual payroll costs by NOK ~80 million. The number of employees will be reduced to around 125, from a total of 213 at the end of Q3 2025.
Other group costs are expected to decline by NOK 30-40 million on an annualized basis.
Otovo’s business model becomes increasingly capital-light, with sales & installations carried out by its ecosystem of external partners, and leasing financing by Swiss Life Asset Managers.
(3) OUTLOOK
Otovo is transitioning from a sales & marketing-focused residential solar & battery company with sales staff on payroll, to becoming a platform where local sales and installation partners can get access to leasing and service solutions that they can offer to their customers. The change exposes Otovo to the attractive niches of long-term financing and servicing of the European residential solar & storage market.
In sum, it enhances Otovo’s resilience to the volatility in installation demand, energy prices, and supply chain dynamics. It positions Otovo to capitalize on its unique high-margin products (leasing and service) and the continued long-term growth in Europe’s distributed energy markets.
(4) REPORTING
Otovo aims to implement the new reporting structure from Q4 2025, aligned with the leasing and service-based business model.
For further information, please contact:
Andreas Thorsheim, CEO, Otovo ASA
Tel:+47 93 06 51 78 | Email: athornor@otovo.com
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