Base Power announced a $1 billion Series D on August 3, 2026 that values the Austin startup at $13 billion post-money and marks its second billion-dollar round in less than a year. The company is racing to install home batteries fast enough to keep pace with a U.S. grid that is buckling under AI-driven load growth.
A $13 Billion Bet On Backyard Batteries
The Series D is led by Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners and JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group, part of the bank's Security and Resiliency Initiative. Altimeter, D1 Capital Partners, Sands Capital, Coatue, Layer Global and Energy Impact Partners also joined, alongside existing backers Thrive Capital, a16z, Lightspeed, Trust Ventures and CapitalG. Base has now raised more than $2.5 billion in total.
CEO Zach Dell, son of Michael Dell, said the new capital will pay for nationwide expansion, additional Austin manufacturing capacity and a hiring push. Base is currently installing about 100 batteries per day and hopes to double that pace before year end — roughly 8 MWh of new residential storage every 24 hours.
Base Core: 39.2 kWh, Built In Texas
Alongside the round Base unveiled Base Core, a purpose-built home battery producing 39.2 kWh in a single-battery configuration or 78.4 kWh with two batteries stacked. The company claims it is one of the largest and most powerful home batteries on the market. Core installs in under an hour, switches over to backup power seamlessly during outages, and is designed for extreme weather.
Base Core is manufactured at Base Factory 1 in Austin, which is now producing thousands of systems a month. The device is already available in select regions of Texas and Illinois, with a national rollout to follow.
Why Utilities Are Signing Up
Rather than sell batteries outright, Base owns each unit and offers whole-home backup on a subscription. In Houston, a single-battery install runs $695 up front, $19 a month and 13.1 cents per kilowatt-hour — roughly the local going rate for power. Base dispatches the fleet into the wholesale market and pockets the difference, echoing the virtual power plant playbook that has powered other large storage projects like the Nordics' new 70 MW Ånge BESS.
Utilities are lining up: Austin Energy, El Paso Electric, GVEC and CoServ have signed contracts collectively representing more than 200 MW of dispatchable capacity. The pitch lands as PJM — the largest U.S. grid, which stretches into Illinois — strains under new AI data-center load, echoing partnerships like Crusoe and Aalo's nuclear-powered AI factory and follow-on capital events such as Antora Energy's $550M thermal battery raise and K2 Space's $500M Series D.
Reporting based on coverage from TechCrunch, BusinessWire and Electrek.