Base Power has built one of the largest battery storage systems in Texas in just two years, and the company is now focused on accelerating its growth. The Austin-based startup has secured one billion dollars in new funding. This Series C round was led by Addition, with participation from CapitalG, Elad Gil, Lightspeed, Ribbit, Thrive Capital, and Valor Equity Partners. According to reports, this new round values the company at three billion dollars pre-money.
Since its founding in 2023, Base Power has sold more than 100 megawatt-hours of its home storage batteries in Texas. The company leases these batteries to homeowners, who pay an upfront installation fee of either 695 dollars or 995 dollars for a 25 kilowatt-hour or 50 kilowatt-hour battery unit. Both of these options offer significantly more capacity than competing products; for example, the 25-kilowatt battery provides double the capacity of a single Tesla Powerwall. According to the company, these batteries can keep a household powered for up to 48 hours.
Customers also pay a monthly fee of either 19 dollars or 29 dollars and commit to a three-year agreement to buy electricity from Base Power at a rate of 8.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, plus delivery fees. This leasing model removes a major barrier for many homeowners by eliminating the high upfront cost of purchasing a home battery system, which typically runs into thousands of dollars for units with less storage capacity, not including installation.
Base Power has effectively leveraged Texas’s deregulated utility market, where households can easily switch electricity providers. The state’s utility regulator offers significant financial rewards to power providers that can quickly supply large amounts of electricity during times of high grid demand, a task for which grid-scale batteries are perfectly suited. In exchange for the low upfront cost, Base Power customers allow the company to use their leased batteries to sell electricity back to the grid when the batteries are not needed for home backup power.
Looking ahead, Base Power is planning to expand its operations beyond Texas. The company is also preparing to build a second battery factory in the United States. It is currently constructing its first factory near Austin, Texas.