Base Power Secures $1B to Expand Home Battery Deployment
▼ Summary
– Base Power has raised $1 billion in Series C funding, valuing the company at $3 billion pre-money, following a previous $200 million raise in April.
– The Austin-based startup has sold over 100 megawatt-hours of home storage batteries in Texas since its founding in 2023, building one of the largest battery storage systems in the state.
– It leases batteries to homeowners for upfront costs of $695-$995 and monthly fees of $19-$29, with customers committing to buy electricity from Base Power at 8.5 cents per kWh plus delivery fees for three years.
– The company’s leasing model reduces upfront costs for homeowners and allows it to use the batteries to sell electricity back to the grid during peak demand, leveraging Texas’s deregulated utility market.
– Base Power is expanding beyond Texas and constructing its first battery factory near Austin, with plans to build a second factory in the United States.
In just two years, Base Power has rapidly established itself as a major player in Texas’s energy storage sector, and a massive new funding round positions the company for accelerated growth. The Austin-based startup, which secured $200 million earlier this year, has now closed a $1 billion Series C financing round. This latest investment was spearheaded by Addition and saw participation from CapitalG, Elad Gil, Lightspeed, Ribbit, Thrive Capital, and Valor Equity Partners. According to reports, this funding values the company at $3 billion before the investment.
Since its founding in 2023, Base Power has already sold over 100 megawatt-hours of its home battery storage systems across Texas. The company’s business model centers on leasing these batteries to homeowners, dramatically reducing the financial barrier to entry. Customers pay an upfront installation fee ranging from $695 to $995 for either a 25 kilowatt-hour or 50 kilowatt-hour unit. These systems offer substantially more capacity than many competitors; for example, the 25-kilowatt model provides double the storage of a single Tesla Powerwall. The company states these batteries can power an average home for up to 48 hours during an outage.
Beyond the initial fee, customers agree to a three-year contract that includes a monthly service charge of either $19 or $29. They also commit to purchasing their electricity from Base Power at a fixed rate of 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, plus standard delivery fees. This leasing approach effectively sidesteps the prohibitive upfront cost that often deters homeowners from investing in battery storage, which typically involves thousands of dollars for hardware and installation.
The company has strategically leveraged Texas’s unique deregulated energy market. This environment not only lets households choose their electricity provider but also financially rewards power suppliers that can rapidly dispatch large amounts of electricity to stabilize the grid during peak demand. Base Power’s distributed network of home batteries is perfectly suited for this task. In exchange for the low initial cost, customers permit the company to use their battery’s stored energy to sell power back to the grid when it is not needed for home backup. This creates a revenue stream for Base Power and helps balance the state’s electrical system.
Looking ahead, Base Power is setting its sights on expansion beyond the Texas border. The fresh capital will fuel this geographical growth and support the construction of a second battery manufacturing facility in the United States. The company is already building its first factory near its headquarters in Austin.
(Source: TechCrunch)