Fourth Power Raises $20 Million to Commercialize Low-Cost Utility-Scale Energy Storage Solution

• Series A Plus accelerates the commercial-scale demonstration and future commercial pilot of Fourth Power’s thermal energy storage system
• Company’s energy storage system delivers 10x cost advantage over lithium-ion, scaling from 5 to 100+ hours as grid needs evolve
• Built from abundant domestic materials, Fourth Power’s system strengthens grid reliability and energy independence while reducing costs for ratepayers

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As utilities face surging demand from electrification and the advancement of artificial intelligence, Fourth Power, a flexible-duration energy storage provider, has secured $20 million in Series A Plus funding. Led by Munich Re Ventures, with follow-on investments from DCVC and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, the funding will accelerate the commercial deployment of Fourth Power’s modular, utility-scale thermal energy storage system. The funding will support commissioning of an integrated 1 MWh-e demonstration using full-scale commercial components and is the company’s final step before customer deployments. Additionally, this capital will be used to deepen partnerships with suppliers and customers further and grow the customer pipeline.

“We’re in a race between the growing need for reliable electricity and the grid's ability to provide it quickly and affordably. Existing solutions are too slow to deploy, too expensive for customers, and oftentimes both,” said Arvin Ganesan, CEO of Fourth Power. “Fourth Power offers a new path forward: scalable, flexible-duration energy storage built from abundant domestic materials. It’s how we deliver reliability at a price point that works—for energy providers, their customers, and the future of the grid.”

Since its $19 million Series A in 2023, Fourth Power has doubled its team size and achieved breakthrough engineering milestones that validate its commercial readiness. The company constructed three large-scale, accelerated life test rigs to validate the durability, safety, and lifetime performance of its subsystems at temperatures up to 2400°C. Further advances include demonstrating a self-lubricating graphite pump for moving molten tin, high-pressure-rated graphite fittings for liquid metal containment, and a scalable inert gas enclosure system.

“Fourth Power is solving a grid problem that’s very real and very near-term, and they’re doing it with a system that’s safer, cheaper, and dramatically more scalable than anything we’ve seen in this category,” shares Peter Ortez, principal at Munich Re Ventures. "We focus on companies tackling the biggest risks facing society. And we believe Fourth Power’s approach represents exactly the kind of resilient infrastructure investment the energy transition demands.”

A principal breakthrough of Fourth Power’s technology lies in its architecture. The thermal energy storage system converts electricity into heat using 2400°C liquid metal as a heat transfer fluid. It then stores that energy in carbon blocks and converts it back to electricity using proprietary thermophotovoltaics (TPVs). The company’s use of very high-temperature liquid metal for heat transfer achieves unprecedented power density, dramatically reducing overall system costs. Fourth Power's modular design separates power and energy, allowing utilities to add storage duration over time as needs change at just a fraction of the initial installation cost. This flexibility, enabled by storage costs of less than $25/kWh-e, allows Fourth Power's customers to grow with the grid, a key differentiator from lithium-ion batteries, where adding duration means duplicating the entire system.

“Fourth Power’s modular approach solves the fundamental challenge utilities face: how to build storage infrastructure that adapts as grid conditions evolve,” said Rachel Slaybaugh, partner at DCVC. “What excites us about the next phase is seeing their technology move from laboratory validation to commercial readiness.”

“This technology doesn’t just incrementally improve on existing solutions, but completely reimagines how we approach the problem,” said Carmichael Roberts of Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “With energy demand rising rapidly, we need storage technologies that can scale cost-effectively alongside that growth. Fourth Power’s flexible-duration approach is that kind of infrastructure-grade solution.”

With utilities across the country facing capacity shortfalls and aging infrastructure, Fourth Power's commercial timing aligns with urgent grid modernization needs. The company expects to announce its first commercial partnerships by 2027. To learn more about Fourth Power’s thermal energy storage system and how the company works to power the world with reliable, low-cost energy, visit gofourth.com.

About Fourth Power

Fourth Power delivers utility-scale energy storage that grows with the grid to meet today's short-duration needs and tomorrow's long-duration requirements. By combining thermal energy storage with thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells, Fourth Power turns the light emitted from heated carbon blocks into electricity that is dispatchable to the grid in seconds. The company's extremely high-temperature system (2400°C) ensures maximum power density with abundant domestic materials, delivering energy storage at less than $25/kWh-e—ten times cheaper than lithium-ion batteries. Fourth Power's modular system provides flexible duration from 5 to 100+ hours, allowing utilities to start small and scale seamlessly as grid conditions evolve. For more information on how Fourth Power has put the sun in a box to strengthen grid reliability and energy independence, visit gofourth.com.

About Munich Re Ventures

Munich Re Ventures is the venture capital arm of Munich Re Group, one of the world's leading providers of reinsurance, primary insurance, and insurance-related risk solutions. With $1.2 billion in assets under management, Munich Re Ventures invests in the most innovative startups, transforming the future of risk and risk transfer. MRV's experienced investors are financially-driven while focused on the strategic interests of Munich Re and the broader insurance industry. MRV works closely with Munich Re Group businesses across the globe to fund and partner with the best emerging companies developing new technologies and business models – and risks – for tomorrow's world. For more information, visit https://www.munichre.com/mrv/en.html

About DCVC

DCVC is deep tech venture capital. Over more than a dozen years, the firm has backed brilliant entrepreneurs using computational approaches to solve trillion-dollar problems in the real world across a broad set of industries, especially those that haven't seen material progress in decades. With billions of dollars of assets under management, DCVC builds long-term relationships with the founders it backs. The firm has been with many of its companies from their very start — and through to their recognition by the public markets as category-defining businesses. For more information, please visit www.dcvc.com.

About Breakthrough Energy Ventures

Backed by many of the world’s top business leaders, BEV has raised more than $2 billion in committed capital to support cutting-edge companies that are leading the world to net-zero emissions. BEV is a purpose-built investment firm that is seeking to invest, launch and scale global companies that will eliminate GHG emissions throughout the economy as soon as possible. BEV seeks true breakthroughs and is committed to supporting these entrepreneurs and companies by bringing to bear a unique combination of technical, operational, market and policy expertise.

BEV is a part of Breakthrough Energy, a network of investment vehicles, philanthropic programs, policy advocacy and other activities committed to scaling the technologies we need to reach net-zero emissions by 2050. Visit www.breakthroughenergy.org to learn more.