Moxion nails $100M Sequence B to switch noxious diesel turbines with silent batteries • TechCrunch

Paul Huelskamp and Alex Meek had been mountain climbing close to Mount Tamalpais in Marin County a couple of years in the past when the peaceable quiet of the woods started to provide method to the clatter of a diesel generator. Once they came across it, they noticed it “spewing black smoke” into the in any other case cool, crisp air, Huelskamp recalled.

The generator had been deployed to supply energy throughout one of many many public security shutoffs imposed by California’s utilities to stop wildfires, and Huelskamp was struck by the inanity of all of it.

“As we walked previous this factor, I used to be like, ‘Alex, take a look at this machine — isn’t it ridiculous that that is what we use once we want electrical energy? We’ve got to burn diesel gas in an engine and throw that mechanical power via an alternator to generate electrons.’ It’s completely ridiculous,” he mentioned.

The pair talked about how batteries are poised to disrupt numerous industries, so why not moveable energy technology?

“We continued that thought experiment for a few weeks, and we couldn’t actually actually let it go,” Huelskamp mentioned. Collectively, they based Moxion Energy in 2020, and in 2021, they joined Y Combinator as a part of the winter cohort.

At this time, Moxion landed a $100 million Sequence B led by Tamarack International with participation from Sequence A lead investor Vitality Affect Companions. Different buyers embody Sunbelt Leases, Amazon’s Local weather Pledge Fund, Microsoft’s Local weather Innovation Fund, Enterprise Holdings Ventures, Marubeni Ventures, Suffolk Applied sciences, and Rocketship.vc.

Sunbelt Leases stands out in that record as a result of the corporate owns a large variety of diesel- and gasoline-powered turbines that present electrical energy to development websites, movie places, live performance festivals, and extra.