Show Notes
Justin Lopas, Co-Founder and COO of Base Power, joins Sourcery at Factory 1 in Austin for the launch of Base Core and the company's $1 billion Series D. The round values Base at $13 billion post-money and is led by Ribbit, Addition, Valor Equity Partners, and JPMorganChase's Strategic Investment Group. Existing investors Thrive Capital, a16z, Lightspeed, Trust Ventures, and CapitalG re-invested, bringing total capital raised past $2.5 billion. Base Core is the largest standalone home battery on the market at 40 / 80 kWh. Justin walked me through the factory floor, the install demo, and why Base builds the hardware itself. "It is so critical to bring manufacturing back to the US, especially for critical infrastructure." We cover: › The $1B Series D at a $13B post-money valuation › Base Core, 40 kWh of storage and 20 kW on the inverter › Whole home backup versus circuit-level backup › Retail choice markets versus utility partnership markets › Installing batteries around data centers to offset interconnection load › 4,000 units per week by the end of the year › Over 100 installs a day › 100% US and Mexico supply chain › Factory 1 built in under 6 months
Justin Lopas: https://x.com/JLopas Molly O’Shea: https://x.com/MollySOShea Sourcery: https://x.com/sourceryy
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𝐓𝐈𝐌𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐌𝐏𝐒 (00:00) Justin Lopas, Co-Founder & COO at Base Power Company (01:06) Base Power raises a $1B Series D (02:26) Meet Base Core (05:42) Demo: Whole-home backup in action (07:06) How Base Power's business model works (08:55) Inside Base Power's Factory (11:28) Why Base Core is 3x larger than other home batteries (12:05) Inside the manufacturing line (13:23) Can humanoid robots build batteries? (14:13) Why Base Power manufactures its own batteries (15:47) Inside the robotic assembly line (18:09) How lithium-ion batteries work (21:40) Scaling production to 4,000 units a week (22:33) Installing 100+ systems a day (23:03) COO or Electrician? (23:53) From oil rigs to Base Power
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