Heron Power Secures $140M Series B to Scale Solid-State Transformer Production for Data Centers and Grid Infrastructure
Heron Power, a cleantech startup founded by former Tesla executive Drew Baglino, announced on Wednesday that it has secured $140 million in Series B funding to scale production of solid-state transformers targeting data centers and electrical grid infrastructure. The round represents a rapid follow-on to the company's $38 million Series A closed in May 2025.
According to Baglino, who serves as CEO, the company didn't require additional capital but opted to raise after customers expressed demand exceeding 40 gigawatts of solid-state transformer capacity. "If our customers are leaning in, we need to lean in as well," Baglino stated. "We gotta go faster."
The accelerated fundraising timeline underscores the surging demand for power infrastructure capable of supporting high-density computing environments. Baglino, who spent nearly two decades at Tesla leading powertrain and energy divisions, brings extensive experience in rapid scaling to the venture.
The Series B round was led by Andreessen Horowitz's American Dynamism Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from Capricorn Investment Group, Energy Impact Partners, Gigascale Capital, and Valor Atreides AI Fund.
Technology Overview: Solid-state transformers represent a paradigm shift from traditional iron-core transformer technology that has remained largely unchanged for over a century. While iron-core transformers offer cost-effectiveness and efficiency, they suffer from significant thermal output and physical footprint constraints—critical limitations for modern data center deployments.
Solid-state transformers leverage semiconductor-based power conversion to deliver:
• Reduced physical footprint and thermal signature• Intelligent power management across heterogeneous energy sources (solar, wind, battery storage)
• Modular architecture enabling rapid component replacement (approximately 10 minutes per module)
• Integration of multiple power management functions into a single device
The company's Heron Link platform converts medium-voltage electricity to the 800-volt DC power required by Nvidia's reference rack architectures. Each unit handles 5 megawatts through a modular design comprising tens of power conversion modules. The system incorporates specialized lithium-ion battery arrays capable of delivering 30 seconds of bridging power during transitions to backup systems, effectively eliminating the need for traditional uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).
"We can remove 70% of the gear involved," Baglino explained. "For some data center applications, it might be savings of an order of magnitude."
Market Strategy: Data centers currently represent approximately one-third of Heron Power's addressable market, with the remainder split between solar installations and grid-scale battery storage systems—both sectors that benefit from the technology's rapid response characteristics and flexible power management capabilities.
The new capital will fund construction of a manufacturing facility capable of producing 40 gigawatts annually—representing 10-15% of global production capacity outside China, or roughly equivalent to half of Texas's peak power demand. The company plans to commence pilot production in early 2027, with full-scale ramp-up over the subsequent 24 months.
While Heron Power faces competition in the solid-state transformer market, the combination of significant capital reserves and Baglino's proven track record in manufacturing scale-up provides strategic advantages as aging grid infrastructure enters replacement cycles. "We will push as hard as we can," Baglino concluded.
