Germany, Lower Saxony, Grohnde, Grohnde Nuclear Power Plant.
Westend61
German start-up Proxima Fusion on Wednesday announced it had raised 130 million euros ($148 million) in a record funding round, with investors hopeful the company can soon develop the world’s first commercial nuclear fusion power plant.
The Series A financing round, which was co-led by investors Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital, represents the largest private fusion investment round in Europe to date.
The buzz around nuclear fusion has kicked into overdrive in recent years. Advocates say the technology, which is the process that powers the sun and stars, can play a pivotal role in the energy transition.
Fusion energy is the process of jamming together two hydrogen atoms to form one helium atom, which releases massive amounts of power. Scientists and engineers have been scrambling to recreate and harness nuclear fusion since the theory was first understood in the 1930s.
“The single thing maybe that is worth highlighting is the speed at which this is happening,” Proxima Fusion CEO and co-founder Francesco Sciortino told CNBC by video call.
“It is a bit uncommon in the domain of deep tech and especially in Europe, of course, but $150 million gives us the financing that we need for everything that we have ahead of us in the next few years,” he added.
Proxima Fusion’s chief executive described nuclear fusion as the “ultimate” source of clean energy and something that is “inevitable” for humanity.
“The question is not whether fusion is possible but whether we manage to harness it on Earth in a way that lends itself to commercial efforts,” Sciortino said.
If nuclear fusion can be replicated at an industrial scale, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says the technology could provide virtually limitless clean, safe and affordable energy that meets the world’s demand.
Not everyone is convinced, however. Researchers have suggested the technology is likely still a long way off from being ready to be scaled up for commercial use.
The Series A financing round brings Proxima Fusion’s total funding to more than 185 million euros in private and public capital, accelerating the Munich-based firm’s mission of building the first stellarator-based fusion power plant in the 2030s.
An alternative to the more common tokamak, a stellarator is a device that uses magnetic fields to confine plasma in the shape of a donut, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. These magnetic fields allow scientists to control the plasma particles and allow the right conditions for nuclear fusion.
“Stellarators aren’t just the most technologically viable approach to fusion energy—they’re the power plants of the future, capable of leading Europe into a new era of clean energy,” Daniel Waterhouse, partner at Balderton Capital, said in a statement.
Proxima Fusion was founded two years ago as a spin out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP).