Battery-backed stove startup Copper gets $28M in funding
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Copper, a startup that makes battery-equipped induction stoves, landed $28 million in funding led by prominent VC player Prelude Ventures.
Why it matters: It's a bet on the business-to-business market for clean appliances, even amid the wider pullback on federal climate policies.
- Copper's ranges qualify for battery investment tax credits that survived in the GOP budget law, and various local and state incentives remain for going electric, too, CEO and co-founder Sam Calisch notes.
Driving the news: The $28 million will help Copper scale and develop more stoves and other appliances, it said.
- Building Ventures also joined the equity and debt round, along with existing investors Voyager, Collaborative Fund, Climactic and several others.
- While it sells some of the $6,000 ranges to individual buyers, Copper's main target is B2B with owners of multi-unit buildings and real estate portfolios.
The big picture: Copper's stove works with standard 120-volt outlets, so buildings don't need costly electrical overhauls, the company said.
- And for pre-1990s buildings, it could otherwise require contacting the local utility to upgrade the fuse paneling, Calisch said in an interview.
- "Induction is widely recognized by a lot of chefs as the superior cooking experience, more power, more precision. But it's been a little slow to be adopted in the U.S., and that's primarily a function of the U.S. power system," he said.
"We design our product to plug right into what you already have, so you don't have to have an electrician come to your house. You don't have to do a construction project. It's just a plug-and-play experience," he said.
- Calisch sees opportunity in sparing building owners from expensive renovations to aging natural gas infrastructure, which can run many thousands of dollars to meet codes.
Catch up quick: The Berkeley, Calif., company founded in 2022 has now raised $38M and began shipping last year.
- It has shipped roughly 1,000 units and has a multiyear contract with the New York City Housing Authority for 10,000.
- The range draws on varying levels of electricity and battery power. Internal software enables it to use exclusively battery power during blackouts or when grid power is "expensive or dirty," per Calisch.
State of play: Calisch is bullish on using battery-equipped stoves as distributed storage networks that lessen needs for gas-fired peaker plants during high demand.
- They've worked with California's Demand Side Grid Support Program to pilot the idea, he said. It offers incentives to customers that provide load reduction and backup generation to support the grid during extreme events.
Our thought bubble: Copper is largely pitching itself to building owners — but it's really a consumer-facing product.
- That means not only convincing real estate companies that Copper stoves are worth paying for, but that future renters and buyers will care enough to justify the cost, Axios Pro Deals' Alan Neuhauser points out.
What we're watching: Copper's next home products.
- "I'm not totally ready to pull back the curtain on that yet, but I would say, look at places where gas is used today," Calisch said.
- He added that things like HVAC and water heating are "really good opportunities."
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