--- title: 'Formenergy — company profile' canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/companies/formenergy' type: 'company' updated: '2026-07-02' --- # Formenergy > Multi-day iron-air battery storage for the electric grid, made in America. - **Website:** https://formenergy.com - **Type:** Private (Series F) - **Headquarters:** Weirton, WV - **Founded:** 2017 - **Founders:** Mateo Jaramillo, Yet-Ming Chiang, Ted Wiley, Marco Ferrara, William Woodford - **Valuation:** $3.4B - **Total raised:** $1.2B+ - **Latest round:** Series F · $405M · 2024 - **Investors:** T. Rowe Price, GE Vernova, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, TPG Rise Climate, Coatue, ArcelorMittal (XCarb), Eni Next, Prelude Ventures, The Engine, Energy Impact Partners, Capricorn Investment Group, NGP, Temasek, GIC - **Business model:** Hardware manufacturing (B2B, utility-scale) - **Industries:** Energy - **Open roles:** 118 - **Profile:** https://feeny.ai/companies/formenergy ## What they do Form Energy designs and manufactures grid-scale iron-air batteries that store electricity for up to 100 hours, far longer than lithium-ion, at a fraction of the cost. It sells these systems to electric utilities and developers to firm up renewable power and keep the grid reliable through multi-day stress periods, and offers Formware software to model the value of that storage. ## Overview **The company betting that rust can save the grid** Form Energy is chasing a problem most battery companies dodge: what happens when the wind stops and the sun goes down for days, not hours. Its answer is an iron-air battery that stores electricity for up to 100 hours at a fraction of the cost of lithium-ion, built from three of the cheapest materials on Earth, iron, water, and air. Five energy storage veterans founded the company in 2017 out of MIT's The Engine, and the bet has drawn real money. Form has raised more than $1.2 billion, employs close to 1,000 people, and is now running trial production at Form Factory 1, a 550,000 square foot plant built on the bones of the old Weirton Steel mill in West Virginia. The next chapter is the hard one: turning signed utility contracts into batteries shipped at scale. ## What They Do **A 100-hour battery for the days renewables go quiet** Form makes grid-scale energy storage that lasts multiple days, not the four hours a typical lithium-ion system delivers. Its iron-air battery works on reversible rusting: it takes in oxygen to discharge and releases it to recharge, which is slow but dirt cheap, exactly the trade a utility wants when it needs to firm up renewables through a long cold snap. The pitch to grid operators is that this fills the gap between short-duration lithium and seasonal storage, the missing piece for running a clean grid around the clock. Form also sells Formware, software that lets utilities model what multi-day storage is actually worth inside their own portfolios. ## Problems **What breaks when the grid runs on wind and sun** A grid leaning on renewables has a timing problem. Solar and wind are cheap but intermittent, and lithium-ion batteries tap out after a few hours, so utilities still lean on gas peaker plants to cover the long gaps. Form's technology is aimed squarely at those multi-day stretches of low renewable output, the stress periods where reliability and affordability usually collide. The pitch is that 100-hour storage lets a utility ride through those windows without firing up fossil backup, and increasingly without building new generation at all for the AI data centers now straining the grid. ### Problems addressed - Multi-day gaps in renewable output that short-duration lithium-ion batteries can't cover - Reliance on gas peaker plants for grid reliability - Firm, round-the-clock power for AI data centers and high-demand loads - Affordable grid reliability as demand rises and the grid decarbonizes ## Who It's For **Built for utilities and the data centers now crowding the grid** Form's customers are electric utilities, grid operators, and large energy developers, the buyers who plan capacity in gigawatt-hours and decades. These are long, regulated sales cycles, often gated on public utility commission approval, which is why so many of Form's deals are announced as pilots first. The newer buyer is the AI data center. The Crusoe agreement and the Google project served through Xcel both point at the same shift: hyperscale computing needs firm, round-the-clock power, and it is willing to sign long-term supply deals to lock it in. ### Ideal customer profiles - **Utility resource planners** — Meeting rising demand reliably and affordably; Reducing reliance on fossil peaker plants - **Data center operators** — Securing firm, 24/7 power at scale; Locking in long-term energy supply ## Products **One battery, one modeling tool, one very big factory** Form's whole business rests on a single hero product: the iron-air battery system, a 100-hour, grid-scale cell that traded lithium's speed for radically lower cost and safety. It passed UL9540A safety testing with no flame or thermal runaway, a real selling point in an industry haunted by battery fires. Around it sits Formware, the software Form gives utilities to value multi-day storage in their portfolios, and Form Factory 1, the West Virginia plant now producing the batteries at volume. ## Business Model **Sell hardware by the gigawatt-hour, on long utility contracts** Form makes money the way an industrial manufacturer does: it builds iron-air battery systems and sells them to utilities and developers under multi-year supply and project agreements, measured in megawatts of power and gigawatt-hours of energy. Pricing is negotiated per deal, not published, and the contracts often begin as regulator-approved pilots that scale into larger commitments. The Crusoe deal, for instance, locks in secured volumes, pricing, and delivery terms beginning in 2027. ## Competition **Racing lithium-ion on cost, and other long-duration bets on physics** Form's real competition is twofold. The incumbent is lithium-ion, which is cheap, proven, and fast to deploy but runs out after a few hours, so Form has to win on cost-per-hour of duration rather than raw performance. The other front is the crowded field of long-duration storage startups chasing the same multi-day gap with different chemistries. Form's edge is that iron-air uses abundant materials with a domestic supply chain and a factory already running, which is a harder thing to copy than a lab result. ### Their edge - **Cost per hour of duration** — Iron-air is built from cheap, abundant materials, targeting multi-day storage at a fraction of lithium-ion's cost. - **A factory, not a lab result** — Form Factory 1 is already producing at commercial scale, a harder moat to replicate than a prototype. - **Inherent safety** — No thermal runaway and UL9540A certification, a real advantage in an industry wary of battery fires. ### Where they're betting - Ramping manufacturing at Form Factory 1 - Powering AI data centers with long-duration storage - International expansion (Ireland and beyond) ## Proof **From lab cells to the largest storage project ever announced** Form has spent years de-risking the technology in public. It has tested tens of thousands of sub-scale cells and hundreds of full-scale ones, deployed grid-connected systems in California, and stood up its first commercial-scale factory. The headline validation came when the U.S. Department of Energy selected Form for an 85 MW / 8,500 MWh project in Maine, the largest energy storage project by energy capacity announced globally at the time. ## What People Say **A mission people love, at a pace that wears some down** Employees consistently praise the mission and the people: a motivated, technically strong team, minimal bureaucracy, and easy access to leadership. Reviewers describe it as one of the better cultures they've worked in, with real room to grow. The recurring complaint is the flip side of a hardware startup scaling fast: long hours, shifting scope, and teams struggling to keep up as roles and priorities change week to week. A few reviews call out heavy middle management and communication gaps. It reads as a place for the mission-driven who can handle constant change, less so for those who want stability. ## Funding **More than $1.2B raised, and a factory to fill with it** Form has pulled in over $1.2 billion across six rounds, an unusually deep war chest for a hardware company, because building factories costs real money. The $405 million Series F in October 2024 was led by T. Rowe Price, with GE Vernova joining as a new backer. The cap table reads like a who's who of climate capital: Breakthrough Energy Ventures, TPG Rise Climate, Coatue, ArcelorMittal's XCarb fund, Eni Next, Temasek, GIC, and MIT's The Engine among them. On top of the equity, the DOE committed $150 million toward the West Virginia factory. ## Team & Culture **Gritty pragmatists reviving a Rust Belt steel town** Form runs on three stated values, humanity, excellence, and creativity, and describes its people as gritty pragmatists and clear-eyed optimists. The clearest expression of the culture is geographic: it chose to build its first factory on the site of the shuttered Weirton Steel mill, hiring hundreds in a town that lost its industrial anchor. The team spans R&D scientists in Somerville, battery engineers in Berkeley, and manufacturing crews in Weirton, with some remote roles. Benefits are notably strong for a startup: 100% of medical, dental, and vision premiums covered from day one, stock options for every employee, and up to 20 weeks of paid leave for birthing parents. ## Compensation **Six-figure engineering bands, equity for everyone** Disclosed pay skews to the manufacturing and hardware roles that dominate Form's hiring. Engineering salaries run from the low six figures into the low $200Ks, with senior operations and leadership roles reaching higher, and a handful of technician and shift roles posted hourly. Ranges are US dollars and vary by location, from the Bay Area to Weirton. The bigger draw is the whole package: Form grants stock options to every employee, which for a company this early can matter more than base salary. ## Security & Legal **A West Virginia address and a security team to match the factory** Form Energy, Inc. operates from 26 Iron Way in Weirton, West Virginia, the same site as Form Factory 1. As a manufacturer handling utility-grade grid hardware, its security posture leans operational: it hires information security engineers and IT leaders who work the IT/OT boundary in a compliance-intensive manufacturing setting. Form does not publish a dedicated subprocessors or trust page, so the public legal footprint is limited to its terms of use, effective September 2022. ## In the News **Data center deals and a first move overseas** Form's recent press tracks two storylines: the AI power crunch and the company's first steps abroad. The Crusoe agreement for 12 GWh of batteries to power AI data centers drew coverage from Bloomberg and TechCrunch, while the Google data center project in Minnesota, served through Xcel, made headlines for pairing a hyperscaler with the world's largest battery. Form also announced its first international project, a 1 GWh iron-air deployment in Ireland. ### Coverage - [Form Energy & Crusoe Announce Agreement for 12 Gigawatt-Hours of Iron-Air Batteries for AI Data Centers](https://formenergy.com/form-energy-crusoe-announce-agreement-for-12-gigawatt-hours-of-iron-air-batteries-for-ai-data-centers/) — Form Energy (2026-03-24) - [Crusoe Buys Batteries That Last for Days to Power New Data Centers](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-03-24/form-energy-sells-batteries-to-crusoe-to-power-new-data-centers) — Bloomberg (2026-03-24) - [Crusoe makes big battery buys for its data centers](https://techcrunch.com/2026/03/24/crusoe-makes-big-battery-buys-for-its-data-centers/) — TechCrunch (2026-03-24) - [Google's new Minnesota data center comes with the world's largest battery, and won't raise electric bills](https://www.fastcompany.com/91500104/google-minnesota-data-center-electric-bills) — Fast Company (2026-03-02) - [Form Energy and FuturEnergy Ireland Announce Agreement To Deploy First Iron-Air Battery Storage Project In Ireland](https://formenergy.com/form-energy-and-futurenergy-ireland-announce-agreement-to-deploy-first-iron-air-battery-storage-project-in-ireland/) — Form Energy (2026-03-17) - [Form Energy Secures $405M in Series F Financing to Expand Iron-Air Battery Business and Operations](https://formenergy.com/form-energy-secures-405m-in-series-f-financing-to-expand-iron-air-battery-business-and-operations/) — Form Energy (2024-10-09) - [Form Energy raises $405M for its 100-hour iron-air batteries](https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/long-duration-energy-storage/form-energy-raises-405m-for-its-100-hour-iron-air-batteries) — Canary Media (2024-10-09) - [Building the Largest Battery System in the World](https://youtu.be/qMV6CifK2Q0) — YouTube (2026-03-26) ## Outlook **The bet is proven, now it has to be built** Form has done the hard science and won the marquee contracts. The open question is execution: turning a de-risked chemistry and a full order book into batteries delivered on time, at cost, from a factory still ramping. The AI data center boom has handed it a demand tailwind few clean-energy hardware companies enjoy, but hardware at gigawatt-hour scale is unforgiving, and the company's own reviews hint at the strain of moving this fast. If Weirton hits its stride, Form becomes the reference case for long-duration storage. If it stumbles on the manufacturing curve, the technology lead won't matter. ## Company details - **Mission:** To reshape the global electric system by creating a new class of low-cost, multi-day energy storage. - **Products:** Iron-Air Battery System, Formware - **Notable customers:** Xcel Energy, Georgia Power, Dominion Energy, NYSERDA, California Energy Commission, Great River Energy, Crusoe, FuturEnergy Ireland, U.S. Department of Energy, Google - **Customer segments:** Electric utilities, Grid operators, Large-scale energy developers, AI data centers - **Buyers / users:** Utility resource planners, Grid operators, Energy developers, Data center infrastructure teams - **Competitors:** Lithium-ion battery storage, Eos Energy Enterprises, ESS Inc., Other long-duration storage developers - **What sets them apart:** Iron-air chemistry uses abundant, low-cost materials (iron, water, air); 100-hour duration fills the gap between short-duration lithium and seasonal storage; Passed UL9540A safety testing with no flame or thermal runaway; First high-volume long-duration storage factory in the U.S., on a former steel mill site; Domestic supply chain and manufacturing - **Tech stack:** Iron-air battery chemistry, Formware modeling software ## Open roles (118) - [Material Planner](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/c4116ac0-6f2a-42ab-9c79-154c29ad271f) — Weirton, WV - [Manufacturing Engineer II](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/ee3cbe4b-a59e-4dda-932a-7bbaca9f5d81) — Weirton, WV - [Senior Failure Analysis Technician](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/5f4edd85-5fab-457d-be59-8c1ba1171ef3) — Berkeley, CA - [Senior Global Supply Chain Manager](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/d6875bb1-eaeb-461a-9d99-40d92da21d20) — Weirton, WV - [Software Engineer II, Power Plant Software](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/91b5121f-ae4c-4ea1-8abd-9234353807d7) — Berkeley, CA - [Senior Oracle Technical Analyst](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/1960365d-9000-4896-8813-fe4fe4a80069) — Weirton, WV - [Staff Mechanical Design Engineer, Structures](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/fc524af1-240c-40c2-a9bc-7574be817b8b) — Berkeley, CA - [Test Development Engineer II](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/73c6f66f-8311-49ab-aad8-61c763fdb714) — Somerville, MA - [Staff Analyst, R&D Engineering FP&A](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/acbe88d1-8cb5-427c-8159-4da04cf74837) — Berkeley, CA - [Manager, Mechanical Design Engineering](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/4949680f-c370-4b5b-be3a-3e287e1cf802) — Berkeley, CA - [Senior Staff Test Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/9c7c8275-8ded-41e0-ab68-d029550ff01b) — Berkeley, CA - [Revenue and Projects Sr. Accountant](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/31025496-d617-44f6-a35e-b0c605fba0aa) — Weirton, WV - [Engineering Test Technician](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/44ce79ef-7499-463c-9d67-a26e78a8e8da) — Berkeley, CA - [Labor and Employment Counsel](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/c1e694b5-e4a0-45c6-ade7-fee567fd5312) — Weirton, WV - [Principle Engineering Field Technician](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/94d06a00-a7ba-4812-8cc4-607a24806dc4) — Weirton, WV - [Staff Modeling & Controls Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/b8770d15-747a-4e88-ac24-85cd438e7ef5) — Berkeley, CA - [Process Supervisor](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/29ff3700-41d1-4a3d-87eb-e766cbe2a61f) — Berkeley, CA - [Sr. Fixed Assets Accountant](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/ebb4db7a-3593-4ce2-8434-d60b54da7c28) — Weirton, WV - [Staff Plant Reliability Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/43572fbe-d31a-464e-ae0c-630d692b193b) — Berkeley, CA - [Staff Controls Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/39b29efd-bb13-4f61-93c5-6c2e7c63a343) — Berkeley, CA - [Senior Manufacturing Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/1dc520f5-4ea7-4538-bf98-eede6c865eed) — Weirton, WV - [Senior Manufacturing Equipment Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/c37faeea-bcb8-42a2-93d1-649752026e16) — Weirton, WV - [MRB Technician](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/6960bcec-3865-4b27-80f9-f43671c20a3c) — Weirton, WV - [Warehouse Operations Associate](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/e2011c3e-0225-4fee-b414-4b7be5859770) — Somerville, MA - [Director of Operations Finance](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/13844e3b-8781-4344-82d4-72864f709d72) — Weirton, WV - [Staff Engineer, Rheology](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/8fab1813-c2ac-4b62-af47-6d91152bd8f3) — Somerville, MA - [Manufacturing Associate](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/c09d4857-24e3-4064-8ece-2c135388cc45) — Weirton, WV - [Staff Electronics Engineer, Test Infrastructure](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/3319f03f-8e10-4dcd-a44c-29f15066af89) — Berkeley, CA - [Equipment Maintenance Planner](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/9a0ae19f-2b5d-4fb8-aae1-113b0c3e2f19) — Weirton, WV - [Senior Lab Operations Associate](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/0ae5ca57-866b-4da8-9685-0f986e90ee0b) — Somerville, MA - [Production Supervisor](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/ed7740d4-9d7e-4b69-9358-5203a44f828b) — Weirton, WV - [Senior Manager, System Engineering](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/750fc7bb-19d7-4ad4-b30e-b4badf61dedf) — Berkeley, CA - [Senior Manufacturing Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/8d88022e-9218-49ba-8152-a1d6eb1b1fa8) — Somerville, MA - [Senior Manufacturing Test Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/87da48da-0b8a-463d-bc1e-c5495d25dee8) — Weirton, WV - [Electrical Equipment Engineer](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/ab3b2937-6048-4920-baf5-a5e401bb2e06) — Weirton, WV - [Global Supply Manager, Fabricated Metals](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/593fda00-46e4-4bdb-95e9-cf474b84a3b7) — Berkeley, CA - [Senior Manager, Modeling, Simulation & Analysis](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/686c9c80-b10b-4c8d-8055-fdf5f372ec6d) — Berkeley, CA - [Staff Mechanical Engineer, High-Voltage Design](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/4442a156-799b-49aa-a3fe-1a3b3a3c6265) — Berkeley, CA - [Senior Global Supply Manager, System Components](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/b4b35c27-8074-4adb-a5d6-7893435c44ef) — Berkeley, CA - [Director, IT Operations](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/cd7e2265-08db-487e-83b7-2743aab70127) — Berkeley, CA - [Senior Process Engineer, Powder Mixing](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/1bbf030c-9d2e-4bc7-98f0-ddfeb8c644cb) — Weirton, WV - [Senior Battery Engineer, Cell Performance](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/cf18ec32-014a-49c4-bdf6-591166d6d276) — Somerville, MA - [Lead Process Engineer, Operations](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/d3ad110f-1a7a-4632-a624-512c0c967710) — Weirton, WV - [Senior Mechanical Engineer, Module & Enclosure](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/4d61360a-6528-43fe-a8ef-067d9b11b3f6) — Berkeley, CA - [Global Supply Manager, Plastic Parts](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/b21aad47-8221-4b84-b9b1-1fec5aa74eea) — Berkeley, CA - [Material Handler - Night Shift](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/0004c5be-b045-46e9-b2ec-87931b127e9c) — Weirton, WV - [Employee Experience Specialist](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/0b5db1ee-4fca-4a22-9571-b10cb4e10d50) — Somerville, MA - [Senior Mechanical Engineer, High-Voltage Design](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/7f691074-b05c-4b61-857d-17da14bd069d) — Berkeley, CA - [Equipment Maintenance Technician (Night Shift)](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/8429e592-58ac-43a4-bfb7-ba9e74dee69e) — Weirton, WV - [Staff Electrical Engineer, Systems Integration](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/formenergy/b10e8988-0ee6-4598-9e2e-330600d4cc81) — Berkeley, CA _…and 68 more at https://feeny.ai/companies/formenergy/jobs_ --- _Source: https://feeny.ai/companies/formenergy · profile updated 2026-07-02_