Innovation Stories: This is how REHAU New Ventures works

Innovation Stories:
This is how REHAU New Ventures works

Innovation Stories:
This is how REHAU New Ventures works

At REHAU New Ventures, colleagues around the world are developing the solutions of tomorrow. And: REHAU New Ventures also helps shape the future of the entire REHAU Group. How does that work? Find out here!

New Ventures has a clear focus on markets.

Digital Construction and Better Living. These are the two areas – so-called search fields – in which the New Ventures team is developing business models. The focus in the Digital Construction search field is on prefabrication, material flow, digital planning and digital collaboration. In the Better Living search field, New Ventures looks at housing, health and new work.

New Ventures has interpreted the REHAU values for itself.

Trust has two dimensions at New Ventures: Transparency and feedback. Reliability means for the founders to take responsibility, to support and empower each other. New Ventures lives innovation through entrepreneurial thinking in each individual team member and respect – this is expressed in particular in a lived diversity. The team around CEO Nils Wagner attaches great importance to its corporate culture. New Ventures has also derived its claim. "Engineering progress. Enhancing lives." has become "We. Enhance. Lives.".

Ricardo Ehrenpfordt leads the digital products team, Smart Products.

Michael Lehmann is responsible for the search field Digital Construction.

New Ventures focuses on pain.

Excuse me? "Yes, we come from pain," explains Ricardo Ehrenpfordt, Smart Products Team Leader. This means that in developing its ideas, New Ventures takes a close look at what customers really need, what problems and annoyances they face – in other words, what pain they are in. Example: the venture Euer Zuhause, which was developed out of the Search Field Digital Construction. Prefab home builders face the challenge of having to spend a lot of money on customer acquisition. Home builders, on the other hand, face a multitude of providers offering different focuses, materials and floor plans. Within the portal of Euer Zuhause, both parties can be brought together quickly and easily.

"The time to take off in this area is good: the German construction industry is currently no longer in the luxury situation of having order books filled for years," says Michael Lehmann, who is responsible for the Search Field Digital Construction. For him, Euer Zuhause is proof that the right timing is also part of being successful in the market.

New Ventures explores international markets very closely.

And that requires a diverse team. "Customers in Shanghai often have very different needs than those in Munich," says Dominik Forster, who is responsible for the Better Living search field. This requires employees who know regional markets well and can analyze them professionally. This is how New Ventures came up with the Wonderwall product: a living wall for confined spaces that can be transformed from a chic decorative object into a coat rack or home office – many things are possible with it. "In China, prestigious rooms for receiving guests are very important, but space is often limited," Dominik explains. New Ventures also has a presence in Shanghai, and the local team drove the development of this product.

New Ventures manages innovation through a detailed process.

Ideate – Build – Scale – Transfer. These are the four phases of the innovation process. This means that employees first identify a pain, a problem with customers. Then they look for the solution to this problem, meticulously explore the market and then start to implement the product at full speed – particularly in the case of digital solutions, it is even okay not to go to market with the perfect product at all, but to develop the product further according to customer feedback. After the build phase, i.e. the market launch, the team prepares for scaling. In concrete terms, this means: can a product also reach further target groups, for example elsewhere in the world? "Our ultimate goal is then to transfer the ventures," says Matthias. In other words, they should really take off either within the REHAU Group or outside it.

New Ventures and the traditional REHAU world can learn a lot from each other.

New Ventures defines itself within the REHAU Group as a beacon for modern and creative culture. "Making mistakes and talking about your mistakes is part of what we do," says Matthias Hille, who is responsible for Venture Building & Scaling. "We test a lot, work very iteratively. Anyone and everyone can contribute, everyone is listened to. No matter what position I work in, I can tangibly shape projects and have a hand in their success." In addition to culture, it's digital capabilities that are moving New Ventures toward the traditional REHAU world. "We support the group business units to develop innovative products and establish them in the market," Ricardo says. Divisions at REHAU, for example, hire New Ventures to help develop electronics and software components. "We are striving toward joint ventures, that's where we want to go, then we also share the risks with the business units. We are prepared to do that, because we care about market success," says Ricardo. New Ventures provides consulting services for the Group in the areas of innovative business models, digitization and product development. On the other hand, New Ventures benefits from established things from the traditional world:

Dominik Forster is looking for new niches in the search field Better Living.

Matthias Hille is responsible for venture building and scaling.

"REHAU has the most extreme competencies," says Ricardo, "when I think of the skills in quality and supplier management, we learn an enormous amount from the Group." In return, New Ventures helps to adapt corresponding processes to the requirements of holistic system solutions.

New Ventures celebrates success and achieves goals.

New Ventures has six active ventures and achieved ten million euros in sales in its first independent year. The ventures are: Euer Zuhause, the platform for prefabricated home manufacturers and builders. Inio, the biodynamic daylight lamp. Wonderwall, the module for individual home design. Window Solutions China, to market high-quality REHAU window products with a focus on sustainability directly to Chinese end customers. Homerenu in the USA, a platform for design and kitchen and bathroom planning. And e-commerce, including the Livlig53 brand, the online concept store for garden, balcony and patio enthusiasts. New Ventures mission is not to buy in existing ventures, but to build and scale new ventures from the ground up. The team works diligently to acquire outside investors and strategic partners for existing ventures. New Ventures has the freedom to tackle topics that are not in the classic REHAU scope – but at the same time the opportunity to develop products that can be integrated into the REHAU Group. "We decide depending on the idea. If we see points of connection to others in the Group, we quickly involve them to benefit from each other," says Ricardo. Offices on three continents, ten ongoing projects with REHAU Group – New Ventures is growing!