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Base Power, the home battery startup founded in 2023 by Zach Dell and Justin Lopas, made a noticeable splash with its latest fundraising announcement.

Why it matters: The team at Base Power executed the modern fundraising playbook by tying a strong narrative to the numbers and going beyond traditional media to share the news. 

Catch up quick: On Oct. 8, Base Power announced its $1 billion Series C fundraise and shared plans to open a new factory in the building that formerly housed the Austin American-Statesman printing press. 

The fundraising round was led by Addition, and participating investors included Google-affiliated CapitalG and 1789, which counts Donald Trump Jr. as a partner. 

Existing investors included Andreessen Horowitz, Valor Equity Partners, Thrive Capital and Lightspeed.

Zoom in: The Series A announcement was for raising general awareness, Series B was for consumer awareness and hiring, and Series C was about attracting top talent, Gabriel Federman, head of marketing at Base Power, tells Axios.

Before making the announcement, the Base team pinpointed the core audience they were trying to reach to recruit: engineers, operators, creatives and electricians. 

"We don't want it to be chest-poundy. That's not the really the culture of the company, and that's not how we want to come across in any announcement. So, we try to approach all the three major fundraising announcements with some level of intention," Federman says.

A line chart that tracks daily news articles about Base Power's Series C fundraise from Oct. 4-14, 2025. Articles rose from zero on Oct. 4 to a peak of 96 on Oct. 8, then declined to 4 by Oct. 14. The data shows a sharp spike followed by a gradual decrease.

News articles written about Base Power's Series C fundraise

By the numbers: The fundraising announcement garnered 167 news articles, according to Muck Rack data shared with Axios.

62 of those articles drove 107,000 readers in total, per Memo data.

While most of the readership was driven by national news outlets, 15% of readership came from Texas-based local news outlets.

Between the lines: Launch day is meant to serve as a big burst of coverage, but in order for a message to penetrate, there must be a steady drip of interviews and stories in the days following.

"I think a lot of teams drop off the drip," says Cristin Culver, founder of Common Thread Communications and Base adviser. After they get so much "buzz on announcement day ... they move on to the next thing. I think that is a mistake in the current era."

"We do believe exceptional people will see one headline and apply, but we likely need to create multiple touch points to convince them to leave an amazing role that they're in and consider coming to Base," says Federman.

Yes, but: While big-name investors and huge fundraising numbers helped capture attention, Base Power pounced on the moment as an opportunity to share more about the company and its culture, which is embedded in Austin. 

Central to the rollout was how Base showed up locally, especially given that the company is opening its first factory in the former Statesman printing press building, which sits on Lady Bird Lake.

"We could've announced the factory opening at any time, but we decided to pair it with the fundraising announcement because we felt like it added a lot more depth to it," Federman says.

Plus, Base Power used the moment to differentiate itself from all of the other tech startups that have recently descended upon Austin.

It was an opportunity for Base Power to show locals that it understands the legacy of the Statesman building and the importance of local journalism.

"We were conscious that we are taking over what some folks in Austin view as an iconic building, taking down their logo, putting up ours. And we wanted to very directly address that in what we thought was a meaningful way, and directly talking to the Statesman's impact on the city," says Federman.

Hence the creation of the newspaper, The Base American. 

Zoom out: The "go direct" strategy — skirting intermediaries to get out a message — remains largely misunderstood and is leading to major debates within the communications industry.

Go direct in its truest form: Only use owned channels like a company blog or personal social media account.

Go directly to friendlies: Engage with low-risk content creators, podcast hosts, industry leaders and Substack writers.

Speak with mainstream publications: Peg media interviews to big moments to show momentum and build credibility. This presents a higher risk — since you can't control the story — but also presents higher rewards.

Here's how Base Power's team put this into practice...

Go direct in its truest form: Base's newspaper, The Base American, ran the headline: "Join the Charge."

In this form, the owned content served as both a nod to the Statesman and local journalism and a marketing moment for sharing in-depth stories about the company.

Base distributed thousands of physical copies of the newspaper to recruits and investors. The company also distributed hard copies around Austin and San Francisco and created a digital version for interested parties.

Zach Dell also posted across his social channels, garnering more than 1.2 million views on X and landing in the featured news tab on LinkedIn.

Go directly to friendlies: The team also gave influential creators or business leaders PR packages that included a copy of the newspaper and Base Power swag.

This prompted a flurry of social media posts and engagement.

The team also appeared in nontraditional outlets like TBPN and the Sourcery newsletter.

Speak with mainstream publications: To cast a wide net, they conducted national print and broadcast interviews and shared the news with the broader business press.

Bonus: Base Power placed a full-page ad in the Statesman on announcement day.

A bar chart that tracks U.S. venture capital deal value and count from 2020 to 2025. Deal value peaked at $360 billion in 2021, then declined to $166 billion in 2023 before rising to $250 billion in 2025. Deal count peaked at 19,648 in 2021 and dropped to 10,616 in 2025.

U.S. VC deal activity

The big picture: As of Q3, deal value is higher than it's been in four years.

This signals that having a "B" (billion) in the fundraising round isn't enough to grab attention.

What's next: I asked George Moriarty, managing editor of Axios Pro Deals, to explain the shift.

"20-plus years ago, for better or worse, the money was often the story," says Moriarty.

"But that's not the case anymore. A smart reader can find the dollar figure anywhere. Today's consumer of VC news expects to learn something about the company that they didn't know."

What they're saying: Attention is harder to earn than capital right now, says Becky Sosnov, founder of Gramercy Strategies.

"A few million dollars won't move a story unless the meaning behind it does. Every variable matters: who's backing you, why you exist and how your vision ties it all together," she adds.

The bottom line: "I think the fundraising announcement landed because it had theme. It had visuals. And most importantly, it had a very bold, clear story," says Culver.

Home batteries, and Base Power, take off ... subscribe to Axios Pro Deals.

Case Study: Base Power rewrites the fundraising playbook

The team at Base Power executed the modern fundraising playbook by tying a strong narrative to the numbers.

Photo of the front pages of a newspaper advertising Base Power's latest fundraise

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Base Power, the <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="home battery startup" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2025/10/08/base-power-raise-home-battery-market" data-vars-content-id="27f683ac-6309-4241-b32c-1a12cb3eeb0a" data-vars-headline="Case Study: Base Power rewrites the fundraising playbook" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2025/10/08/base-power-raise-home-battery-market" target="_self">home battery startup</a> founded in 2023 by Zach Dell and Justin Lopas, made a noticeable splash with its latest fundraising announcement.Why it matters: The team at Base Power executed the modern fundraising playbook by tying a strong narrative to the numbers and going beyond traditional media to share the news.

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Case Study: Base Power rewrites the fundraising playbook

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