Proxima Fusion Raised Record €411 Million with Support from Google and RWE

Munich-based Proxima Fusion raised 411 million euros ($468 million)—the largest private funding round for fusion energy in European history, and a rare signal of trust in a technology that has yet to generate a single watt of commercial energy. The deal values the company at 2.4 billion euros.

Who entered as investors

Strategic investors in the round included Google and German energy company RWE, as well as XTX Ventures fund. The participation of a major technology corporation and an active energy utility in a single round is itself an unusual combination for a fusion startup: it combines interest in future energy from a company for which electricity is a growing expense line, and from a player already managing energy generation and supply today.

• Round size — 411 million euros ($468 million)
• This is the largest private round for fusion energy in European history
• Company valuation by the end of the deal — 2.4 billion euros
• Strategic investors — Google and energy company RWE
• Proxima Fusion is based in Munich and develops a stellarator-type fusion reactor

What technology Proxima Fusion specializes in

Proxima Fusion is a so-called "stellarator" company: it develops a stellarator-type fusion reactor, an alternative to the more common tokamak design. The key feature of a stellarator is its complex twisted shape of magnetic coils, which theoretically allows it to confine plasma more stably without needing to constantly maintain current in it as in a tokamak. However, as noted in sources, neither Proxima Fusion nor the fusion energy industry as a whole has yet produced a single watt of commercial electricity—the entire sector remains in the development and demonstration phase.

What it means

A record-sized round by European standards for a fusion startup signals that major technology and energy capital is willing to make long-term bets on alternative energy sources even before a working commercial reactor emerges, and Google's participation as a strategic investor underscores growing interest among technology companies in their own future energy generation sources.