German fusion technology startup Proxima Fusion announced today that it has raised €130 million (USD$149 million) in a Series A funding round, with proceeds aimed at supporting its efforts to build the first stellarator-based fusion power plant in the 2030s. The financing marks the largest private fusion investment round in Europe to date.

Fusion, the process of combining two atoms to form a single atom to release energy, has been long referred to as the “Holy Grail” of clean and abundant energy production, given its potential to produce power from hydrogen – the most common element in the universe – without producing carbon emissions associated with fossil-fuel based power, and without the highly radioactive output of nuclear fission processes. Large scale fusion energy generation has been elusive, however, given the need to create extremely high temperatures and pressure.

Francesco Sciortino, CEO and Co-founder of Proxima Fusion, said:

“Fusion is the ultimate source of clean energy for humanity. The moment we access fusion energy as this limitless source of clean energy, we can truly change how human civilization runs.”

Founded in early 2023 as a spin-out of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), Proxima aims to produce stellarators for fusion power plants at a scale that can ultimately help decarbonize the energy grid. Stellarators are doughnut-shaped devices that magnetically levitate hot ionized plasma and heats it to extremely high temperatures to achieve fusion power. Technology advances including high temperature superconductors (HTS) and advanced computing have enabled stellarator technology to advance from a physics concept to an engineering focus, according to Proxima.

Proxima is developing quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarators, which utilize a magnetic confinement approach,  which eliminates current-driven instabilities and the risk of disruptions typical to other fusion approaches. Earlier this year, the company unveiled its fusion power plant concept Stellaris, together with partners including IPP, which the company said can produce more power per unit volume than any stellarator power plant designed to date, and using much stronger magnetic fields enabled by HTS magnet technology to allow for a significant reduction in size compared to previous stellarator concepts.

The company said that the new capital will be used to complete its Stellarator Model Coil (SMC), a full large-scale demonstration of a superconducting magnet, slated for 2027, and to finalize a site for its first demonstration stellarator, “Alpha,” using the SMC technology and anticipated to begin operations in 2031, as well as to grow its team in Germany, Switzerland and the UK.

The Series A round was led by Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital, with participation from investors including UVC Partners, DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF), Plural, Leitmotif, Lightspeed, Bayern Kapital, HTGF, Club degli Investitori, OMNES Capital, Elaia Partners, Visionaries Tomorrow, and Wilbe, as well as from redalpine, which led Proxima’s seed round last year. To date, Proxima has raised more than €185 million.

Filip Dames, Cherry Ventures Founding Partner, said:

“We back founders solving humanity’s hardest problems — and few are bigger than clean, limitless energy. Proxima Fusion combines Europe’s scientific edge with commercial ambition, turning world-class research into one of the most promising fusion ventures globally. This is deep tech at its best, and a bold signal that Europe can lead on the world stage.”