Base Power Hits $13B Valuation on $1B Series D

**Molly O'Shea** (0:00)
Base Power just raised a $1 billion Series D at a $13 billion valuation led by Ribbit, Addition, Valor and JPMorganChase, bringing total funding over $2.5 billion, just 10 months after their $1 billion Series C. Today, they're launching Base Core, the largest standalone home battery on the market.

**Justin Lopas** (0:18)
So this is actually the Base Core. This is what we're announcing. It's almost like plugging in an EV. And so they stack up the modules inside and the inverter, and then they just plug everything in. So it's a 40 kilowatt hour system and 20 kilowatts on the inverter. This is like three times larger than what you would find in a traditional home battery. So these are battery cells. Inside of this is a bunch of chemistry that basically stores energy. So you can charge and discharge it. We're not there yet, but we'll be able to produce about 4,000 of these units per week towards the end of the year. That's like one every few minutes, which is very, very quick. Let's say that the grid goes off. You can see like the grid goes off, but the battery is back to normal.

**Molly O'Shea** (1:05)
So last time I talked with you guys was your Series C back in October where you raised a billion dollars. Congratulations on another billion dollars and a 13 billion dollar post-valuation.

**Justin Lopas** (1:15)
Thank you.

**Molly O'Shea** (1:15)
But this doesn't exist. So how long did this whole facility take?

**Justin Lopas** (1:20)
Yeah, so we moved in here in September or October of last year. But the production line really only got started, started getting built in February or March of this year. So like where we're standing right here, all of this is less than six months old. We were doing some warehousing and distribution stuff for the six months prior to that.
But this all has come together super quickly. And if you came here in the morning, you see like most of the people that we've brought on also started in the last six months that are working in the factory. So it's been a super rapid increase in our production capacity and all of our team that's producing.

**Molly O'Shea** (1:55)
And how many people work in this facility?

**Justin Lopas** (1:57)
We've got about 100 now. Yeah, we got about 100 and then we're going to be starting a second shift.

**Molly O'Shea** (2:01)
How many floors is this? Is it just one floor?

**Justin Lopas** (2:03)
Just one floor. Really? Yeah. I'll show you the-

**Molly O'Shea** (2:05)
The building looks huge.

**Justin Lopas** (2:07)
There's a multi-floor office that we don't use. That's not part of our lease. But yeah, we've got three floors in our HQ, one major production floor here, and then we've got a big warehouse back there too.

**Molly O'Shea** (2:18)
And you guys are hiring?

**Justin Lopas** (2:19)
We're hiring a ton, yeah. Hiring across all roles.

**Molly O'Shea** (2:23)
All roles.
Cool. All right. So we're here at Base Power in Austin, Texas, specifically in the neighborhood with Justin Lopas. How are you? Good.

**Justin Lopas** (2:34)
How are you doing? Thanks for coming.

**Molly O'Shea** (2:35)
Pretty good. So you're going to walk us through Base and something very special that just got released.

**Justin Lopas** (2:43)
Yes. Let's do it. So Base designs and manufactures batteries. We're about to show you where they're made.
And this display shows you how they're installed on a home. So the batteries provide backup power for homeowners. So if the grid goes off, the battery backs you up. And also when the grid's up and running, provides the grid support. So when there's tightness on the grid from everybody plugging in their EVs and turning on their AC and it's hot in the summer or very cold in the winter here in Texas or anywhere else, the batteries provide that support. But here's how they're hooked up. So the way that it works is grid typically comes in into your meter. This we don't install. This is the utility meter. We just put our logo on it for this display. And then normally it goes straight from here into your electrical panel. And electrical panel then distributes it to your washing machine and your refrigerator and all that. But instead when we come, we basically break that connection and we install our system right here and on the ground over there in the middle. So the way that this works is electricity comes in through the meter, goes out of the meter into our disconnect box, which I'll explain in a minute, and then comes out of our box and into the electrical panel. This is important because this provides what's called whole home backup. So oftentimes many batteries in the market will only backup certain circuits on your home and you have to pick those circuits when it's getting installed. And so maybe you won't backup your washing machine, which you will your refrigerator.