Moxion nailed $100M Series B to replace toxic diesel generators with silent batteries TechCrunch
Paul Huelskamp and Alex Meek was hiking near Mount Tamalpais in Marin County a few years ago when the serene quiet of the woods began to give way to the clatter of diesel generators. When they got there, they saw it “spout black smoke” into the clear, cool air, Huelskamp recalls.
Generators were deployed to provide electricity during one of many public safety shutdowns imposed by California’s utility agencies to prevent wildfires, and Huelskamp was hit by the helplessness of it all.
“When we walked past this thing, I was like, ‘Alex, look at this machine – is it ridiculous that this is something we use when we need electricity? We have to burn diesel fuel in an engine and throw that mechanical energy through a generator to generate electrons. ‘ It’s completely ridiculous,” he said.
How did the couple talk about the battery ready to disrupt some industriesso why not mobile generator?
“We kept testing that thinking for a few weeks, and we couldn’t really let it go,” says Huelskamp. Together, they established Moxion Power in 2020 and in 2021, they join Y Combinator as part of the winter cohort.
Today, Moxion achieved a $100 million Series B led by Tamarack Global with participation from top Series A investor Energy Impact Partners. Other investors include Sunbelt Rentals, Amazon’s Climate Commitment Fund, Microsoft’s Climate Innovation Fund, Enterprise Holdings Ventures, Marubeni Ventures, Suffolk Technologies and Rocketship.vc.
Sunbelt Rentals stands out on that list because it owns a large number of diesel and diesel generators that power construction sites, movie venues, concert festivals, etc.
