All Access

Climate Deals

Standard

Climate Deals Thought Bubble

Thought Bubble

Climate Deals Alerts

Alert

mustard

BFD Expert Voices - Climate Deals

BFD Expert Voices

Stormentum, a startup building next-gen inverters for home batteries and solar, is raising a $6 million-$8 million seed round, co-founder and CEO Patrick Chapman says. 

Why it matters: As U.S. home solar tax credits sunset, the start-up's inverters are intended to help meet the needs of installers looking for lower-cost gear.

Zoom in: Stormentum launched at the beginning of the year with a $2 million pre-seed round led by Energy Transition Ventures and including Climate Capital and Cyan Ventures. 

Chapman previously co-founded Solarbridge (sold to Sunpower) and held senior roles at Mainspring, Redwood Materials, and Enphase Energy. 

Co-founder Bryan Thomas, the chief commercial and product officer, is a solar and EV charging vet, and previously sold his startup Charge Theory to The Mobility House.  

The company will use the seed round to develop its next-gen inverter system.

How it works: Inverters tie together electricity from solar panels, batteries, and your home use to the grid. 

Typically inverter makers have been bundling batteries with inverter boxes, driving up the costs of the products and forcing customers to use the paired batteries.

Austin-based Stormentum's idea is to disaggregate the inverter from the batteries, slashing costs and giving installers and home owners a lot more choice and flexibility.

Chapman describes it as a "storage-first" inverter. The rise in home solar adoption "is begging for a new inverter architecture, which has gotten pretty stale over the last 15 or 20 years."

The big picture: Solar and storage installers are searching for ways to lower costs as home solar systems lose the federal tax credit. 

At the same time, home batteries systems are having a moment in the U.S. this year thanks to low-cost batteries, a constrained grid and continuing strong incentives.

U.S. residential energy storage is expected to almost double this year.

Follow the money: Home battery startups that have raised rounds include Base Power and Pila Energy, with $1 billion and $4 million seeds respectively.

Reality check: Energy hardware can be a tricky business for a venture-backed startup. 

What's next: Stormentum plans to ship its first inverters by the end of 2027.

Exclusive: Next-gen inverter startup raising up to $8M seed

Stormentum's idea is to disaggregate the inverters and the batteries, slashing costs .

White rectangular electrical box labeled STORMENTUM with six white conduit pipes running vertically from the bottom, mounted on a light gray wall.

A rendering of Stormentum's next-gen inverter. Image courtesy of Stormentum

Stormentum, a startup building next-gen inverters for home batteries and solar, is raising a $6 million-$8 million seed round, co-founder and CEO Patrick Chapman says. Why it matters: As U.S. home solar tax credits sunset, the start-up&#x27;s inverters are intended to help meet the needs of installers looking for lower-cost gear.

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

charlotte

boulder

detroit

kansas-city

columbus

austin

dallas

atlanta

washington-dc

nw-arkansas

chicago

indianapolis

nashville

richmond

colorado-springs

houston

san-francisco

seattle

boston

des-moines

salt-lake-city

philadelphia

denver

phoenix

new-orleans

miami

twin-cities

raleigh

san-antonio

portland

san-diego

tampa-bay

cleveland

huntsville

pittsburgh

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Exclusive: Next-gen inverter startup raising up to $8M seed

What to read next