Over the last several years, fusion power has emerged from an industry perpetually dismissed as “always ten years away” into a technology attracting serious attention and deep-pocketed investments. While still complex and demanding in its engineering, fusion promises near-boundless, clean energy by harnessing the atomic processes at the core of the sun. Achieving commercial fusion power could revolutionize the global energy sector, transforming trillion-dollar markets overnight.
Investment into fusion startups has surged thanks to three key technological advancements—significantly improved semiconductor power, advanced artificial intelligence, and breakthroughs in high-temperature superconducting magnets. These factors combined have boosted reactor designs, led to more accurate simulations, and enabled highly advanced control systems.
An additional impetus came in late 2022, when scientists at a U.S. Department of Energy facility accomplished a controlled fusion reaction that resulted in a net energy gain for the first time—a milestone known as “scientific breakeven.” Although still short of the threshold necessary for commercial viability, this landmark moment proved the fundamental feasibility of fusion technology and ignited investor enthusiasm further.
Several companies now stand out in the rapidly evolving private fusion sector, each employing distinct approaches and drawing formidable financial backing.
Foremost among these firms is Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), having secured a massive $1.8 billion Series B round in 2021. The Massachusetts-based company’s flagship project, named Sparc, employs a tokamak reactor design shaped like a doughnut, with advanced superconductors creating powerful magnetic fields to contain ultrahot plasma. Sparc’s successor, Arc, will produce steam for electricity generation. Backed heavily by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Bill Gates, and a slate of prominent investors, CFS anticipates commercial operation by the early 2030s. To date, it has raised approximately $2 billion.
TAE Technologies, a California-based fusion pioneer launched in 1998, has pulled in about $1.79 billion so far, supported by Chevron, Google, and others. Its reactor uses a unique “field-reversed configuration” enhanced by particle beams to maintain plasma stability and prolong fusion reactions—an approach that improves its economic viability.
Meanwhile, Helion Energy has an aggressive timeline, aiming to deliver commercial electricity from fusion by 2028. With $1.03 billion in total funding and major investors including Microsoft, Reid Hoffman, and Peter Thiel, the Everett, Washington-based startup relies on an hourglass-shaped reactor design that merges plasma at extreme velocities, directly generating electric currents.
Pacific Fusion drew attention with an extraordinary $900 million Series A round. Led by scientist Eric Lander, formerly chief of the Human Genome Project, the company takes a novel approach, utilizing electromagnetic pulses rather than lasers to ignite fusion reactions. Funding is staged, contingent upon meeting technical milestones—a method more commonly observed in biotech ventures.
Shine Technologies has raised roughly $778 million and is pursuing a strategically cautious route. Before entering full-scale electricity production, it provides practical services like neutron testing and medical isotope production, further developing its capabilities until conditions are ripe for full commercial fusion.
Canada’s General Fusion, founded in 2002, utilizes magnetized target fusion—a compressed liquid metal chamber scenario that converts fusion energy to heat and steam to power turbines. Supported by investors including Jeff Bezos, General Fusion encountered financial challenges in early 2025, resulting in significant layoffs even as it reached critical research milestones. Still, total funding stands at around $440.5 million.
Tokamak Energy, from the UK, has secured approximately $336 million to refine its compact spherical tokamak reactor, enabling greatly reduced costs. Its ST40 reactor demonstrated promising results in 2022; the company continues scaling its next-generation demonstration project towards practical commercial fusion.
Another Everett-based fusion innovator is Zap Energy, funded by $327 million from major investors such as Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures. Zap’s method employs self-generated magnetic fields created by electric currents passing through the plasma. Its reactor design aims for simplicity and cost-effectiveness, appealing to cautious venture capitalists.
The startup Proxima Fusion is betting on stellarator reactors—complex but promising fusion designs that twist and reshape plasma chambers to enhance plasma stability. European investors, attracted by this unconventional yet scientifically promising method, have now backed Proxima with over €185 million.
Marvel Fusion, located in Munich, Germany, concentrates on inertial confinement, a technology reminiscent of the U.S. government’s successful 2022 breakthrough. By using a laser-driven process against silicon-based targets, Marvel hopes semiconductor-style precision manufacturing will simplify its move to industrial-scale reactors. It has raised $161 million to date.
Other firms emerging in the rapidly proliferating fusion landscape include Colorado-based Xcimer, with $109 million raised to develop an enhanced inertial fusion capability similar to that used by government labs; and First Light Fusion, which shifted from reactor development toward selling fusion tech components and services after raising roughly $140 million in overall funds.
The diversity of approaches, robust financial backing, and demonstrated breakthroughs indicate fusion power has now definitively moved from a speculative dream into a rapidly scaling field that investors see as both possible and profoundly worthwhile.
