The rooftop tent, rethought.
By people at home in the outdoors.

Moin! Allow us to introduce Immanuel Schneider and Jakob Heider, the two founders of Roof Space.

Friends since their school days, the two had already travelled plenty together. Their shared love of travel sparked the idea of developing a rooftop tent that would meet their own standards, exceed them, and leave no compromises on the table.

Manu brings his engineering studies plus a passion for tinkering and perfecting. Jakob contributes commercial expertise and the drive to structure and organise a company.

And so it began in 2020, classically, in a home garage in northern Germany. There was only the vision of the perfect rooftop tent - not yet the solution. Learning by doing and trial and error were Manu and Jakob's constant companions. Progress came in stages, and every attempt added something new. The fourth prototype brought the gas struts; the sixth brought the idea of giving the fold-out tent a hard aluminium shell. The foundation for the new fusion experience of space, stability and simplified travel was laid. Prototype 8 introduced another first: panorama mode. It turned the tent into a roof deck and showed that a rooftop tent doesn't have to be just about sleeping.

What began in a garage got an official home in April 2021: Roof Space GmbH was officially founded, and the bold step into entrepreneurship was sealed with the entry in the commercial register. The tinkering of two friends became a real company with a mission to change the world of camping for good. It was the moment a vision became a solid structure - the starting gun for a journey that would reach far beyond the home workshop.

In 2022 the time had come. The team had completed the Roof Space ONE as a development platform. Now it was time to go public, and the crowdfunding campaign was the springboard that exceeded all expectations. Not just financially, but for the developers too, who could now share their passion and vision of freedom and adventure with a community of their own. The press took notice, and the Roof Space name began to spread out into the world.

While the focus turned to producing and delivering the tents, work continued in parallel on optimising the tent even further. The first 100 customers provided real-world feedback that helped shape the Roof Space 2 into the rooftop tent of the future. As a result, features like silent zippers, a connection for a diesel heater and cladding for the aluminium poles were added. In the end, it's the details that make the difference when everything else is already right.

With the Roof Space 2, there is now a highly refined tent on the market that gives back the love and passion that went into creating it.

A perfect tent is only the beginning - the goal was to create a complete outdoor ecosystem. In 2023, a product world grew around the Roof Space 2 that makes travelling even more comfortable and flexible. With the development of the Light Awning, the Light Base and the Family Base, modular extensions emerged that expand your living space under the stars to suit your needs. A single product became a complete solution for solo travellers and families alike.

The Roof Space vision never knew borders, and enthusiasm for the fusion experience spread globally. With the founding of sister companies in the USA and Australia, Roof Space became an international brand. From the coasts of California to the Australian Outback, adventurers around the world now share the passion for freedom, innovation and German engineering. Roof Space has well and truly arrived on the world map of camping.

Standing still was never an option for Roof Space, and so came the next big statement: the development of the Roof Space 4. As the world's largest hard-shell rooftop tent, it set entirely new benchmarks for space and comfort. It is the answer to the desire for boundless freedom without compromise, and impressive proof that size and stability can sit in perfect harmony on a vehicle roof.

That passion and attention to detail bear fruit has been confirmed by official juries in recent years. In 2024, the Roof Space 2 received the renowned German Design Award - recognition for the perfect symbiosis of aesthetics and functionality. And it didn't stop there: 2025 marked another milestone when the pioneering Roof Space 4 took home the German Innovation Award. The journey was honoured at a business level too: the IHK Founders' Award 2025 impressively underlines that Roof Space belongs at the top not only technologically, but also as a bold northern German success story.