Former Revolut employees raise $78 million for web3 energy startup

Former Revolut chief revenue officer Alan Chang has raised a $78 million round for his web3 energy startup Tesseract founded with fellow ex-Revoluter Charles Orr. 

Chang confirmed over Twitter direct messaging on Wednesday that Tesseract has raised $30 million in traditional equity, with the remaining amount raised through a sale of its native token. Balderton and Lakestar led the round and additional backers of the round include Accel, Low Carbon, Ribit Capital, Box Group, Creandum and former Formula One racing driver Nico Rosberg. The startup is now valued at $145 million, said Chang. 

According to LinkedIn, Chang left Revolut this month. Chang was the fifth employee at the neobank and, according to an Insider report, he was considered a key lieutenant to founder Nik Storonsky before leaving to set up Tesseract with Orr. 

News of the round confirms a previous Insider report in May that the London-based startup was raising seed funding from Balderton, Accel and Creandum. The report said that the startup is expected to operate as a vertically integrated renewable energy company that buys energy from generators at fixed prices that are then offered to consumers.

It's this process — called a power purchase agreements (PPA) — that Tesseract is looking to tokenize. Each Tesseract token will act as a PPA and correspond to a right to access power targeted at 1 watt of capacity on the company's network, according to Insider. Tesseract's website promises "commission-free energy" that is up to 10 times cheaper. 

Revolut itself has made several key steps into web3. Along with adding the ability to invest in cryptocurrencies, the company is also readying its own native token along with a noncustodial wallet, according to a The Block interview with Storonsky in May. 

Update (12:30 p.m. EST): This story has been updated to include further information about Tesseract's investors and valuation.