Base Power Raises $1B led by Addition, with Trust Ventures, Valor Equity, Thrive, Lightspeed, a16z, Altimeter, Stepstone, Elad Gil
Timestamps are as accurate as they can be but may be slightly off. We encourage you to listen to the full context.
Podcast Summary
In this episode of Sorcery, Zach from Base announces their massive billion-dollar Series C funding round led by Addition, just six months after their $200 million Series B. (02:02) Base is revolutionizing the energy sector by deploying distributed battery storage systems that bypass traditional interconnection queues, enabling rapid deployment of clean energy infrastructure. (25:05) The company has achieved remarkable growth with 30% month-over-month customer growth and millions in monthly revenue while maintaining a waitlist of thousands. (03:06) Zach emphasizes that energy is becoming a critical bottleneck for AI development and that Base's solution addresses both electricity cost challenges and access to megawatts. (23:10) The funding will enable Base to scale their team, open their first factory, and expand beyond Texas to become a national player in the energy transformation.
- Main Theme: Base's mission to build "the SpaceX of energy" through innovative battery storage technology, vertical integration, and a world-class engineering team focused on making clean energy accessible and affordable for all.
Speakers
Zach (CEO and Co-founder of Base)
Zach is the CEO and co-founder of Base, bringing a unique combination of finance and energy sector expertise to the role. He began his career at Blackstone, a major private equity firm in New York, where he first studied opportunities in the energy space. (12:08) He later joined Thrive Capital, where he continued developing his thesis on the energy paradigm shift and made significant investments in companies like SpaceX and Anduril. His experience at Thrive gave him a pattern-matching perspective that led him to see the opportunity to build "the SpaceX of energy," ultimately connecting him with co-founder Justin to launch Base.
Molly (Host)
Molly is the host of the Sorcery podcast, conducting in-depth interviews with founders and investors in the venture capital and startup ecosystem. She demonstrates deep knowledge of the energy sector and venture funding landscape, asking insightful questions about Base's growth trajectory and market positioning.
Key Takeaways
Building the Best Team Is Everything
Zach emphasized that "the most valuable asset of the company is the team" and that "companies are just a bunch of people sitting in a room, welding things and clicking keys on keyboards." (13:43) Base has maintained an extremely high hiring bar, recruiting top talent from SpaceX, Tesla, and Anduril including their head of software who led Starlink's laser topology team and their head of hardware who designed the Powerwall 3. The company's leadership team consists of the first five employees who were all individual contributors, creating a culture where leaders still do hands-on work. This approach has resulted in exceptional talent density where team members push each other to achieve their best work.
Speed to Market Beats Traditional Infrastructure
Base's core innovation lies in bypassing traditional interconnection queues that can take 3-5 years by deploying batteries where grid infrastructure already exists. (25:10) Zach explained they can deploy 100 megawatts in a month versus the typical 2-5 year timeline for traditional grid-scale projects. This "speed to power" approach allows them to serve the urgent energy needs of AI data centers and other power-hungry applications. By going where interconnection already exists, Base eliminates the need for new poles and wires while dramatically reducing deployment timelines.
Energy Cost Drives Innovation Capacity
The cost of electricity fundamentally determines what technologies and manufacturing processes become financially viable. (23:42) As Zach noted, electricity costs in the US have increased 2.5x over the past 20 years, meaning "we can't innovate, we can't build big factories at the rate that we could if prices were going down." Lower energy costs expand the universe of bankable projects and manufacturing processes, while higher costs constrain innovation. This creates a multiplier effect where Base's work to reduce energy costs through efficient storage deployment enables broader technological advancement across industries.
Extreme Focus and Ruthless Prioritization
In a vast industry like energy with countless opportunities, maintaining laser focus on core north stars prevents organizational drift. (31:41) Zach described how they align as a team on specific north stars every quarter and ensure every employee can explain how their work ladders up to these goals. Despite constant partnership requests and expansion opportunities, Base stays focused on becoming "the fastest deployer of battery storage in the world at the lowest landed cost." This disciplined approach allows them to execute at speed while avoiding the trap of pursuing too many initiatives simultaneously.
Blue Collar Culture with High-Tech Execution
Base embodies a "chop wood, carry water" mentality where no job is too small and leaders get their hands dirty alongside team members. (08:32) Zach still does individual contributor work daily, and the company culture emphasizes showing up early, staying late, and doing the small tasks that matter. This blue-collar approach combined with hiring top engineering talent creates a unique culture where brilliant people focus on execution rather than pontificating about strategy. The result is a workplace where team members take pride in hands-on problem-solving and maintain strong work ethic standards.
Statistics & Facts
- Base is experiencing 30% month-over-month customer growth and generating millions of dollars per month in revenue with a multi-month backlog. (03:06) This growth rate demonstrates the massive demand for their battery storage solutions in the market.
- Electricity costs in the United States have increased roughly 2.5 times over the past 20 years. (24:19) This statistic illustrates why energy costs have become a significant constraint on industrial innovation and manufacturing competitiveness.
- Base can deploy 100 megawatts of battery storage in a month, compared to traditional grid-scale projects that take 2-5 years depending on the state. (25:58) This represents a 24-60x improvement in deployment speed compared to conventional approaches.
