Every fusion startup that has raised over $100M
Over the last several years, fusion power has gone from the butt of jokes — always a decade away! — to an increasingly tangible and tantalizing technology that has drawn investors off the sidelines.
The technology may be challenging to master and expensive to build today, but fusion promises to harness the nuclear reaction that powers the sun to generate nearly limitless energy here on Earth. If startups are able to complete commercially viable fusion power plants, then they have the potential to upend trillion-dollar markets.
The bullish wave buoying the fusion industry has been driven bythree advances: more powerful computer chips, more sophisticated AI, and powerful high-temperature superconducting magnets. Together, they have helped deliver more sophisticated reactor designs, better simulations, and more complex control schemes.
It doesn’t hurt that, at the end of 2022, a U.S. Department of Energy lab announced that it had produced a controlled fusion reaction that producedmore powerthan the lasers had imparted to the fuel pellet. The experiment had crossed what’s known as scientific breakeven, and while it’s still a long ways from commercial breakeven, where the reaction produces more than the entire facility consumes, it was a long-awaited step that proved the underlying science was sound.
Founders have built on that momentum in recent years, pushing the private fusion industry forward at a rapid pace. Below is a list of startups that have raised over $100 million in committed capital from private investors, according to data provided to TechCrunch byFusionX.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems¶
Commonwealth Fusion Systems(CFS) has raised about a third of all private capital invested in fusion companies to date. Its latest round, which closed in July,added $1 billionto its coffers, bringing its total raised to $3.94 billion, according to FusionX.
CFS’s catapulted into the lead in 2021 with a $1.8 billion Series B. Since then, the startup has been hard at work in Massachusetts building Sparc, its first-of-a-kind power plant intended to produce power at what it calls “commercially relevant” levels. The company says Sparc should reach scientific breakeven — also known as Q > 1 — sometime in 2027.
Sparc’s reactor is a tokamak design, which resembles a doughnut. The D-shaped cross section is wound withhigh-temperature superconducting tape, which, when energized, generates a powerful magnetic field that will contain and compress the superheated plasma. Heat generated from the reaction is converted to steam to power a turbine. CFS designed its magnets in collaboration with MIT, where co-founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard worked as a researcher on fusion reactor designs and high-temperature superconductors.
The Massachusetts-based CFS expects to have Sparc operational in late 2026 or early 2027. Later this decade, the company says it will begin construction on Arc, its commercial power plant that will produce 400 megawatts of electricity. The facilitywill be built near Richmond, Virginia, and Google has agreed to buyhalf its output.
CFS is backed by a long list of investors, including Breakthrough Energy Ventures, The Engine, Bill Gates, and others.
Helion¶
Of all fusion startups,Helionhas the most aggressive timeline. The company plans to produce electricity from its reactor in 2028. Its first customer? Microsoft.
Helion, based in Everett, Washington, uses a type of reactor called a field-reversed configuration, where magnets surround a reaction chamber that looks like an hourglass with a bulge at the point where the two sides come together. At each end of the hourglass, the reactor spins the plasma into doughnut shapes that are shot toward each other at more than 1 million mph. When they collide in the middle, additional magnets help induce fusion. When fusion occurs, it boosts the plasma’s own magnetic field, which induces an electrical current inside the reactor’s magnetic coils. That electricity is then harvested directly from the machine.
The company most recentlyraised $465 millionin June in a Series G that valued the company at $15.5 billion. Its previous round, announced in January 2025,totaled $425 million. Altogether, Helion has raised $3.2 billion in committed capital, according to FusionX. Investors include Sam Altman, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Reid Hoffman, KKR, BlackRock, Peter Thiel’s Mithril Capital Management, and Capricorn Investment Group.
TAE Technologies¶
Founded in 1998,TAE Technologies(formerly known as Tri Alpha Energy) was spun out of the University of California, Irvine by Norman Rostoker. It uses a field-reversed configuration, but with a twist: after the two plasma shots collide in the middle of the reactor, the company bombards the plasma with particle beams to keep it spinning in a cigar shape. That improves the stability of the plasma, allowing more time for fusion to occur and for more heat to be extracted to spin a turbine.
In December 2025, TAE announced thatit would mergewith President Donald Trump’s social media company, Trump Media & Technology Group. The all-stock transaction would value the combined company at $6 billion. TAE would receive $200 million plus another $100 million upon filing paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission. When the deal was announced, the companies said the combined entity would be led by two co-CEOs, TAE CEO Michl Binderbauer and Trump Media’s CEO, which is currently Kevin McGurn, who is serving in an interim capacity.
The fusion startup had previously raised$150 million in June 2025from existing investors, including Google, Chevron, and New Enterprise. Prior to the merger announcement, TAE had raised a total of $1.65 billion, according to FusionX.
Pacific Fusion¶
Pacific Fusionburst out of the gate with a Series A that topped $1 billion, the startup has told TechCrunch. That’s a whopping sum even among well-funded fusion startups. The company will use inertial confinement to achieve fusion, but instead of lasers compressing the fuel, it will usecoordinated electromagnetic pulses. The trick isin the timing: All 156 impedance-matched Marx generators need to produce 2 terawatts for 100 nanoseconds, and those pulses need to simultaneously converge on the target.
The company is led by CEO Eric Lander, the scientist who led the Human Genome Project, and chief scientist Will Regan. Pacific Fusion’s funding might be massive, but the startup hasn’t gotten it all at once. Rather, its investors will pay out in tranches when the company achieves specified milestones, an approach that’s common in biotech.
Proxima Fusion¶
Most investors have favored large startups that are pursuing tokamak designs or some flavor of inertial confinement. But stellarators have shown great promise in scientific experiments, including the Wendelstein 7-X reactor in Germany.
Proxima Fusionis making the most of its proximity to the successful experiment, raising more than $682.9 million across rounds, according to FusionX. The most recent round, which was announced in July, valued the company at $2.7 billion. Investors include Google, RWE, Balderton Capital, Cherry Ventures, East X Ventures, and XTX Ventures.
Stellarators are similar to tokamaks in that they confine plasma in a ring-like shape using powerful magnets. But they do it with a twist — literally. Rather than force plasma into a human-designed ring, stellarators twist and bulge to accommodate the plasma’s quirks. The result should be a plasma that remains stable for longer, increasing the chances of fusion reactions.
Proxima is planning to complete Alpha, it’s net-energy demonstrator, in the early 2030s, and Stellaris, it’s commercial power plant, later that decade.
Shine Technologies¶
Shine Technologiesis taking a cautious — and possibly pragmatic — approach to generating fusion power. Selling electrons from a fusion power plant is years off, so instead, it’s starting by selling neutron testing and medical isotopes. More recently, it has been developing a way to recycle radioactive waste. Shine hasn’t picked an approach for a future fusion reactor, instead saying that it’s developing necessary skills for when that time comes.
The company has raised a total of $1 billion, according to PitchBook. Investors include Energy Ventures Group, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Nucleation Capital, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. The company most recently raised a $240 million round in February led by NantWorks with participation from investors including Deerfield Management, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Oaktree Capital Management, Pelican Energy Partners, and the Sumitomo Corporation of Americas.
Inertia Enterprises¶
Only one fusion experiment, the National Ignition Facility (NIF), has surpassed scientific breakeven, and the chief scientist of that endeavor, Annie Kritcher, is part ofInertia Enterprises‘ founding team. She’s joined by Mike Dunne, a Stanford professor, and Jeff Lawson, who co-founded Twilio and currently owns The Onion. In April, the startupsigned three agreementsto commercialize the technology developed at the NIF.
Inertia plans to use lasers to bombard fusion fuel pellets, an inertial confinement design that echoes the one Kritcher successfully used at the NIF. Inertia Enterprisesemerged from stealthin February with $450 million in Series A funding in a round led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from GV, Modern Capital, Threshold Ventures, and others.
General Fusion¶
Now in its third decade,General Fusionhas raised over $442 million, according to FuionX data. The Richmond, British Columbia-based company was founded in 2002 by physicist Michel Laberge, who wanted to prove a different approach to fusion known as magnetized target fusion (MTF). Investors include Jeff Bezos, Temasek, BDC Capital, and Chrysalix Venture Capital.
In a General Fusion’s reactor, a liquid metal wall surrounds a chamber in which plasma is injected. Pistons surrounding the wall push it inward, compressing the plasma inside and sparking a fusion reaction. The resulting neutrons heat the liquid metal, which can be circulated through a heat exchanger to generate steam to spin a turbine.
General Fusion hit a rough patch in spring 2025. The company ran short of cash as it was building LM26, its latest device that it hoped would hit breakeven in 2026. Just days after hitting a key milestone, itlaid off 25% of its staff. CEO Greg Twinney penned an open letter pleading for funding from investors.
In August 2025, they delivered somewhat,injecting $22 millionin a pay-to-play round that one investor called “the least amount of capital possible” to keep General Fusion afloat. Then in November, securities filings in Canada revealed that the company had raised $51.1 million in SAFE notes from nearly 70 investors, the Globe and Mailreported.
In January, General Fusion said itwould go public via a reverse mergerwith a special purpose acquisition company. The companylisted on the Nasdaqon July 13, 2026, and the transaction net the company $127 million, per FusionX.
Zap Energy¶
Zap Energyisn’t using high-temperature superconducting magnets or super-powerful lasers to keep its plasma confined. Rather, itzaps the plasma(get it?) with an electric current, which then generates its own magnetic field. The magnetic field compresses the plasma to about 1 millimeter, at which point ignition occurs. The neutrons released by the fusion reaction bombard a liquid metal blanket that surrounds the reactor, heating it up. The liquid metal is then cycled through a heat exchanger, where it produces steam to drive a turbine.
The startup announced a partial pivot in April, saying it willpursue nuclear fission in addition to fusion, while also exploring a hybrid power plant that would blend both nuclear fusion and fission. It also hired a new CEO, Zabrina Johal, who has expertise in the fission industry. Zap claims the move will help it bring in revenue earlier than fusion alone.
The Everett, Washington-based company has raised $325 million, according to FusionX. Backers include Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, DCVC, Lowercarbon, Energy Impact Partners, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Bill Gates as an angel.
Tokamak Energy¶
Tokamak Energytakes the usual tokamak design — the doughnut shape — and squishes it, reducing its aspect ratio to the point where the outer bounds start resembling a sphere. Like many other tokamak-based startups, the company uses high-temperature superconducting magnets (the rare earth barium copper oxide, or REBCO, variety). Since its design is more compact than a traditional tokamak, it requires less in the way of magnets, which should reduce costs.
The Oxfordshire, U.K.-based startup’s ST40 prototype, which looks like a large, steampunk Fabergé egg, generated an ultra-hot, 100-million degree Celsius plasma in 2022. Its next generation, Demo 4, is currently under construction and is intended to test the company’s magnets in “fusion power plant-relevant scenarios.” Tokamak Energy raised$125 million in November 2024to continue its reactor design and expand its magnet business. In April, the startup said it would be supplying magnets for the U.K.’s STEP Fusion program, a government program that is working toward a spherical tokamak-based power plant.
In total, the company has raised $284 million according to FusionX. Its investors include Future Planet Capital, In-Q-Tel, Midven, and Capri-Sun founder Hans-Peter Wild, according to PitchBook.
Focused Energy¶
Germany-basedFocused Energyis another fusion startup that traces its lineage to the National Ignition Facility (NIF). In addition to using laser pulses to compress a fuel target, the company has hired Debbie Callahan as its chief strategy officer. Callahan helped design the fuel target at NIF. Her job at Focused Energy will be to figure out how to turn the NIF’s painstakingly crafted fuel target into something that can be mass manufactured at a rate of nearly 1 million per day.
Focused Energy raised anoversubscribed $240 million Series Ain June, bringing its total private capital raised to $277 million, according to FusionX. The company has also received $200 million in grants. Investors include the German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND), Prime Movers Lab, and the utility RWE, which has granted Focused Energy access to a decommissioned nuclear fission power plant it operates.
Marvel Fusion¶
Marvel Fusionfollows the inertial confinement approach, the same basic technique that the National Ignition Facility used to prove that controlled nuclear fusion reactions could produce more power than was needed to kick them off. Marvelfires powerful lasersat a target embedded with silicon nanostructures that cascade under the bombardment, compressing the fuel to the point of ignition. Because the target is made using silicon, it should be relatively simple to manufacture, leaning on the semiconductor manufacturing industry’s decades of experience.
The inertial confinement fusion startup is building a demonstration facility in collaboration with Colorado State University, which it expects to have operational by 2027. Munich-based Marvel has raised a total of $208 million from investors including b2venture, Deutsche Telekom, Earlybird, and HV Capital with Taavet Hinrikus and Albert Wenger as angels.
Type One Energy¶
Stellarator startupType One Energyis planning to build a fusion reactor on the site of a retired Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) coal power plant. The magnetic confinement device is expected to generate 350 megawatts of electricity, and the company hopes to bring it online by the mid-2030s.
Unlike other fusion startups, Type One plans to sell key technology to organizations like the TVA, allowing them to build, own, and operate the equipment, similar to how many fossil fuel power plants are developed today. Type One has raised $174.5 million to date, according to FusionX, including anextended Series Athat totaled $82.5 million. The startup iscurrently raisinga $250 million Series B.
Kyoto Fusioneering¶
With all the startups pursuing fusion power, it was perhaps inevitable that another would pop up to develop components that round out a power plant. The so-called balance of plant, or the parts that sit outside the reactor, range from gyrotrons that heat plasma to heat extraction systems to harvest power from fusion reactions to turn it into electricity.
Kyoto Fusioneeringhas made an early bet that if even one fusion startup succeeds in generating enough power to sell to the grid, that the industry willneed a supplierfor the balance of plant and the expertise to integrate it into whichever fusion technologies win out.
Venture capitalists appear to agree, having invested $121 million in Kyoto Fusioneering, per FuxionX. Investors include 31Ventures, In-Q-Tel, JIC Venture Growth Investments, Mitsubishi, and Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Investment, according to PitchBook.
First Light Fusion¶
Unlike many other fusion startups,First Light Fusiondoesn’t use magnets to generate the conditions necessary for fusion. Instead, it follows an approach known as inertial confinement, in which fusion fuel pellets are compressed until they ignite.
But even then, First Light doesn’t hew to orthodoxy. Most attempts at inertial confinement use lasers to do the dirty work, following the lead of the National Ignition Facility, which produced agroundbreaking experimentin 2022. First Light had previously planned to fire a projectile at a target using a two-stage gun, but it has since dropped those plans
First Light says it is offering its core technologies to other companies looking to build an inertial confinement power plant. A spokesperson for First Light said that it is planning to build “pulsed power capability that would act as our demonstrator plant but would have other science and defense applications.”
Based in Oxfordshire, U.K., First Light has raised $140 million, per FusionX data. Its investors include Invesco, IP Group, and Tencent, according to PitchBook.
Thea Energy¶
Thea Energyis betting its pixel-inspired magnets will help it build a stellarator for less money. Stellarators can keep plasmas burning for long periods of time — a boon when it comes to running a commercial power plant — but to do so, they require twisty magnetic fields. Most stellarators build magnets that mimic that complex shape, but Thea Energy thinks that by wreathing its doughnut-shaped reactorin dozens of smaller magnets, it can use control software to create the necessary kinks.
In May, Thea raised$100 million in a Series Bled by the U.S. Innovative Technology Fund, just over two years after a$20 million Series A. Across all rounds, the startup has raised $120 million in private capital. Other investors include Prelude Ventures, Lowercarbon Capital, Hitachi Ventures, and Emerald Technology Ventures.
Xcimer¶
Though nothing about fusion can be described as simple,Xcimertakes a relatively straightforward approach: follow the basic science that’s behind the National Ignition Facility’s breakthrough net-positive experiment andredesign the technology that underpins itfrom the ground up. The Colorado-based startup is planning to build a 10-megajoule laser system, 5x more powerful than the NIF setup that made history. Molten salt walls surround the reaction chamber, absorbing heat and protecting the first solid wall from damage. In June, Xcimer turned on Phoenix, a prototype system that it says is themost powerful privately owned laser in the world.
Founded in July 2022, Xcimer has raised $101 million from investors, including Hedosophia, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Emerson Collective, Gigascale Capital, and Lowercarbon Capital.
This story was originally published in September 2024 and will be continually updated.
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Senior Reporter, Climate
Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has written for a wide range of publications, including Wired magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Ars Technica, The Wire China, and NOVA Next, where he was founding editor.
De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College.
You can contact or verify outreach from Tim by emailingtim.dechant@techcrunch.com.
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