Base Power Raises $1B to Scale Backyard Batteries for the Grid

Base Power has raised another $1 billion less than a year after its previous billion-dollar round. TechCrunch reports the Series D values the company at a $13 billion post-money valuation and will help the startup ramp production of its home batteries.

The company’s core bet is that distributed batteries in people’s backyards can compete with large storage projects built on big tracts of land near major grid connections. Base Power has installed more than 500 megawatt-hours of storage over the past few years.

Base Power also introduced a new home battery called Base Core. The device is built at the company’s Austin, Texas factory and can store 39.2 kilowatt-hours of electricity.

Customers can choose either one or two batteries. The company operates in Texas and Illinois, and TechCrunch notes that the nearly 40 kilowatt-hour capacity can provide backup power for a day or more during blackouts.

Instead of charging thousands of dollars up front like many home battery installers, Base Power offers its batteries through a subscription model. In the Houston area, the article says Base Power charges $695 to install a single battery, $19 per month, and 13.1 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity.

Base Power owns the battery and can sell stored electricity back to the grid during periods of high demand. In regulated markets, it works with utilities to place batteries in homes to help reduce strain on the local grid.

The funding lands as electricity demand is rising due to economywide electrification and the rapid pace of AI data center construction. TechCrunch notes that the U.S. electrical grid has expanded after decades of stagnation, while demand has strained the grid in many locations.

Base Power is installing about 100 batteries per day and hopes to double that by the end of the year, according to details cited in the article. That current pace works out to about 8 megawatt-hours of storage installed per day.

The new round was led by Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners, and JPMorganChase’s Strategic Investment Group. Other participants included Altimeter, D1 Capital Partners, Sands Capital, Coatue, Layer Global, Energy Impact Partners, Thrive Capital, a16z, Lightspeed, Trust Ventures, CapitalG, and others.

Base Power was co-founded by Zach Dell, who serves as CEO. TechCrunch reports that his father, Dell CEO Michael Dell, did not participate in the round.