Bill Gates’ Firm Invests in Terabase Energy

<p><strong><span class&equals;"legendSpanClass"><span class&equals;"xn-location">BERKELEY<&sol;span><&sol;span><&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; Terabase Energy has announced a <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;44 million<&sol;span> Series B financing co-led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures &lpar;founded by Bill Gates&rpar; and Prelude Ventures with additional participation by SJF Ventures and other existing investors&period; The round brings Terabase&&num;8217&semi;s total funding to <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;52 million<&sol;span> and will be used to support the company&&num;8217&semi;s mission to reduce the cost and increase the scalability of solar by building a digital and robotic automation platform for the development&comma; construction&comma; and operation of utility-scale PV power plants&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Terabase has built the first digital platform for managing the full project life cycle of utility-scale solar and combined it with a construction automation system to transform the way solar power plants are deployed&period; Terabase&&num;8217&semi;s automated field-factory&comma; capable of 24&sol;7 operations&comma; can significantly compress construction schedules and reduce costs while ensuring higher build quality&period; The robotics-assisted workflow will also improve worker health and safety by eliminating manual lifting of heavy panels and steel components under often difficult outdoor weather conditions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Terabase is working alongside project developers&comma; owners&comma; and engineering &amp&semi; construction firms to support the design&comma; optimization&comma; and deployment of large-scale solar projects around the world&period; The new round of financing will enable full commercial deployment of the company&&num;8217&semi;s integrated solution in 2023 and comes shortly after Terabase announced its first commercial project&comma; the largest deployment of robotics in solar plant construction to date&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Breakthrough Energy was founded by <span class&equals;"xn-person">Bill Gates<&sol;span> and is backed by many of the world&&num;8217&semi;s top business leaders&period; BEV has raised more than <span class&equals;"xn-money">&dollar;2 billion<&sol;span> in committed capital to support cutting-edge companies that are leading the world to net-zero emissions&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;In recent years&comma; the solar industry has been focused on technological improvements of solar panels and other hardware components while the means and methods of engineering and construction have been largely unchanged&period; The way the industry designs and builds large scale projects needs to be rethought if we are to reach the very rapid growth required to meet net-zero goals&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Carmichael Roberts&comma; Breakthrough Energy Ventures&period; &&num;8220&semi;To enable the Terawatt-scale deployment of solar needed to decarbonize&comma; we believe a breakthrough is needed to transform how PV power plants are built&period; Terabase&&num;8217&semi;s solution has tremendous potential to reduce costs and accelerate the deployment of large scale solar&comma; and we look forward to working with them on that mission&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;This investment is validation of our vision for rapidly deploying solar at the Terawatt scale&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said <span class&equals;"xn-person">Matt Campbell<&sol;span>&comma; co-founder and CEO of Terabase Energy&period; &&num;8220&semi;It took fifty years for the world to build the first Terawatt &lpar;one million Megawatts&rpar; of solar&comma; but we need at least 50 additional Terawatts built as quickly as possible to meet global decarbonization targets&period; This round of funding will allow us to continue to expand our team and make the investments necessary to achieve our mission&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;