By: Ryan Gibson and Greg Reichow

While there have been huge technological advancements in the renewable energy space, storage remains the missing link to realizing a clean energy future. Enter Peak Energy, which nine months ago launched out of Eclipse’s Venture Equity program to solve this problem with a sustainable, affordable, and reliable storage solution for the grid. 

In the short time since the company’s inception, the economics of the energy market have shifted drastically. With the rapid rise of AI and increased focus on electrification and EV adoption, energy demand in the U.S. is skyrocketing. Google recently announced that due to increased data center energy consumption and demand for AI, the company’s emissions surged nearly 50% compared to 2019. Electric utilities are nearly doubling forecasts for how much power they’ll need to add to the grid in the next three to four years. While companies and governments alike have been focused on electrification and harnessing renewable energy, this massive spike in demand poses a serious threat to those efforts. 

There’s a clear imbalance between the need for grid-scale energy storage solutions and the lack of available supply. Time is of the essence. Without a viable storage solution for the grid, this increase in energy demand will inevitably be met by gas-powered peaker plants and coal-burning plants, reversing all the progress made to date on reducing carbon emissions.

Peak Energy’s approach puts the company at the forefront of solving the world’s challenges around energy demand. Rather than spending years or decades developing new battery chemistry, the team is working with partners that have already put several years of development into sodium-ion technology to focus on driving innovation in the rest of the system. The market opportunity is there, and now it’s time to deliver. 

Peak Energy raises $55M Series A to commercialize and scale grid storage technology

Less than a year since launching, Peak Energy today announced it has raised a $55M Series A funding round, led by Xora Innovation, an Early-Stage deep tech investing platform of Temasek. Eclipse was also a significant participant after leading the company’s seed round, along with strategic partner TDK Ventures and new investors Lachy Groom, Tishman Speyer, Doral, and TechEnergy Ventures. We’re excited to partner with this elite group of investors to continue supporting Peak Energy in its mission to industrialize sodium-ion in the U.S.

Peak Energy is focused on bringing sodium-ion battery storage to the grid, which means large-scale, high-volume battery systems. There’s huge demand for this application, as evidenced by the strategic investors who have joined this latest funding round, representing commercial real-estate, high-power industrials, and leading independent power providers. From an economic standpoint, the company’s technology will offer a significant cost advantage because the fundamental materials that go into these batteries are low-cost and can be sourced domestically. More broadly, the system that Peak Energy is building follows a ground-up design that optimizes specifically for sodium-ion batteries, similar to how Tesla designed its cars to be electric from the ground up. 

The growing need for safe, affordable and reliable energy storage

While there are many companies and startups building new battery systems, there are important nuances to be aware of. First, not every battery chemistry is created equal, even within sodium-ion. Some are best for stationary storage, while others may be suited for smaller, mobile applications, such as electric vehicles. Particularly when compared to lithium-ion, sodium-ion batteries are safer, reducing the risks customers are concerned about like losing their assets and putting people in harm’s way. 

Because of the intense pressure on utilities and IPPs to meet growing power needs in a clean and sustainable way, Peak already has massive customer demand for its battery systems. Peak Energy will use this latest capital infusion to jumpstart production of sodium-ion storage in the U.S. and launch its pilot program. The company’s sodium-ion batteries will deploy to a select group of six premier customers starting in 2025, including three of the top five largest Independent Power Producers (IPPs) and electric utility companies in the country. 

It’s not just utilities that are interested in Peak’s offerings, either. For example, Tishman Speyer, a global real estate developer, owner, and operator of some of the highest-value commercial real estate in the U.S., could leverage Peak Energy’s battery systems to safely power its buildings with renewable energy sources.

The perfect combination of market demand and a world-class team 

Peak Energy’s momentum over the last year not only reflects strong market demand but also is indicative of the team behind the mission. Since launching in October, Liam O’Connor has joined the company as Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer, bringing two decades of operational leadership from some of the most successful technology companies in the world, including Tesla, Apple, Lyft, and Zipline. He has deep expertise in leading and scaling global operations and supply chains, including battery supply chains specifically, having been deeply involved on that side at Tesla.

Liam’s background is a perfect complement to his Co-Founders, CEO Landon Mossburg and Chief Commercial Officer Cameron Dales. In these complex, physical industries, one of the most important tenets is identifying people who have experienced the hardships and challenges of building companies in these sectors. Looking at these three co-founders through that lens, we have Liam, who led operations and supply chain at some of the world’s largest technology companies; Landon, who built and scaled large battery manufacturing at Northvolt and Tesla; and Cameron, who helped build from scratch a leading-edge battery company at Enovix. Collectively, they bring ample firepower to Peak Energy’s mission of industrializing sodium-ion battery technology. 

We’re constantly impressed with how quickly and strategically this company is scaling. Beyond growing its all-star team, the customer development and interest they’ve garnered are significant when combined with the traction they’ve gained with key technology partners and suppliers. It’s one of the fastest-growing commercial pipelines in the space. Not only will the team launch full-scale deployments of their sodium-ion systems through their pilot program next year, but Peak Energy is also on track to start the first giga-scale production of sodium cells outside of China in early 2027.

What’s next for Peak Energy

It's not often that you get to build extremely valuable businesses that have such a significant, positive impact on the world. Peak has the opportunity to capitalize on the ongoing deployments of renewables and accelerate that journey to completion. And it’s about more than a business success story — we need companies like Peak Energy to be successful for the future of clean energy and humanity.

The Eclipse team admires Landon’s expansive vision for the company. While he’s laser-focused on delivering sodium-ion systems in the relative short-term, the global energy storage needs are only growing, and he has the grit and determination to build a global company. We’re just at the beginning stages of witnessing a generational company in the making, and we at Eclipse are proud to work alongside Peak Energy to bring their vision to reality. 

More on today's news from Bloomberg.

Follow Eclipse on LinkedIn or sign up for Eclipse’s Newsletter for the latest on the Industrial Evolution.