Rematter: The Venture Leader Cleantech creating circular, low-carbon earth-timber slabs

15.09.2025 09:30, Rita Longobardi

Meet Götz Hilber, Co-Founder of Rematter. The Cleantech startup replaces reinforced concrete floors with scalable, climate-positive earth-timber systems, digitally designed and robotically prefabricated. In November, Götz and the other nine Swiss National Cleantech Team members will travel to Munich on a business development and investor roadshow.

Name: Götz Hilber
Location: Zurich
Nationality: German
Graduated from: Schulen für Holz und Gestaltung Garmisch-Partenkirchen, University Witten/Herdecke, University Utrecht
Job title: Co-founder and CEO
Number of employees:  8
Money raised: Confidential

Can you tell us who your product or solution helps, and how?
Rematter helps builders, engineers, architects, and developers who need to meet increasingly strict sustainability regulations or who want to build regeneratively. Our scalable earth-timber floor system replaces reinforced concrete floors with a solution that is both climate- and resource-positive and creates a healthy indoor climate. Digitally designed and robotically prefabricated, it not only ensures high architectural quality and lower costs, but also enables regenerative construction by combining carbon storage with circular design. In practice, this means storing up to 1 ton of CO2 per cubic meter of timber throughout the long lifetime of buildings and extending that storage beyond by keeping the materials useful for future generations.

What market are you addressing and what is the potential of your startup in that market?
We are addressing the global structural floors market, with a focus on residential- but also office- and schoolbuildings in Europe. With stricter EU requirements for net-zero buildings, the demand for ecological and circular construction materials is accelerating. The market potential is immense: regenerative building materials are expected to reach hundreds of billions of euros within the next decade. Rematter’s smart combination of earth, timber and robotic precision gives us a unique edge in this fast-growing market.
 

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How and where did you come up with the idea for your startup?
The idea came from years of research and hands-on experience in sustainable construction and digital fabrication. We observed how today’s building industry struggles with high emissions, resource inefficiency, poor recyclability and inefficient fragmented processes. By combining the oldest natural building materials - earth and timber - with cutting-edge robotic production, we created a scalable floor slab system that stores carbon, enhances wellbeing and is designed for scalable circularity from the start.

What do you expect from the Venture Leaders roadshow, and how do you think it will help you achieve your vision?
We started delivering to the German market and already were present on the Bau Munich 2025.  The Venture Leaders roadshow as a unique opportunity to expand our visibility in the German market, connect with international investors, industry leaders and mentors who share our mission to Rematter construction towards climate- and resource-positivity. Exposure to global markets will help us gather market insights, attract strategic partners and secure the funding and collaborations needed to scale Rematter internationally.

What are your team’s key achievements to date?
Our team has invented a modular earth-timber floor slab system, manufactured with robotic technology and taken it from the lab through pilot production to the verge of industrial scale. Along the way, we have delivered projects with leading architects and developers and built a strong pipeline. We’ve assembled a diverse team bringing together expertise in engineering, architecture, robotics, sustainability and business development, and secured early-stage funding as well as strategic partnerships to support our growth. Our progress has also been recognized through awards and invitations to leading innovation and sustainability programs.

Is there a key principle or value that guides you as you build your company?
We are guided by the belief that innovation holds immense potential to shape a positive future. Since the publication of The Limits to Growth in 1972, the narrative of “peak everything” has fueled widespread concern about scarcity and decline. Yet science shows that we are not doomed - if we act with determination, we can transform that paradigm of scarcity into one of abundance, prosperity, health and beauty. At Rematter, this conviction drives our work every day: to create solutions that enable positive development for both people and the planet.

What is the most important lesson you have learned as a founder?
Founding is like hitchhiking: an adventurous journey where you rely on the generosity and support of others to give you a ride. Each good encounter not only helps you move forward but also creates opportunities for meaningful shared experiences and mutual benefits along the way.

What is your favorite productivity hack or tool and why?
ChatGPT – for many reasons. DocSend – to share updated pitch decks with all stakeholders at once and keep track of visits. HubSpot – to keep customers engaged and communication streamlined. Todoist and Notion – to track tasks, projects and progress. And calendar booking tools – to schedule meetings efficiently.

What was your dream job when you were a child?
I loved building stuff out of wood and in the sandbox and I could watch construction sites in my village for many hours. In a way, that passion has come full circle: today I’m still building, just at a much larger scale and with the help of some very cool technology.