Latest news with #FrancescoSciortino
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
German fusion energy firm Proxima Fusion secures $150m financing
European fusion energy company Proxima Fusion has closed a €130m ($150m) Series A financing round, bringing its total funding to more than €185m in private and public capital. The Series A round, the largest private fusion investment in Europe to date, was jointly led by Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital, with substantial contributions from a consortium of investors including UVC Partners, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, Elaia Partners, Visionaries Tomorrow and redalpine. redalpine led Proxima Fusion's seed round in 2024, just one year earlier. Proxima Fusion CEO and co-founder Francesco Sciortino stated: "Fusion has become a real, strategic opportunity to shift global energy dependence from natural resources to technological leadership. Proxima is perfectly positioned to harness that momentum by uniting a spectacular engineering and manufacturing team with world-leading research institutions, accelerating the path toward bringing the first European fusion power plant online in the next decade." This influx of capital bolsters Proxima's mission to pioneer commercial fusion energy, a move supported by the European Union and national governments including Germany, the UK, France and Italy, who view fusion as critical for achieving energy independence and sustainable economic growth. Cherry Ventures founding partner Filip Dames stated: '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.' Established in April 2023 as a spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), Proxima Fusion maintains a strong public-private partnership with IPP. The company's approach to engineering is driven by simulations, utilising advanced computing and high-temperature superconducting (HTS) technologies. These strategies build upon the IPP's Wendelstein 7-X stellarator experiment's results. In early 2025 Proxima Fusion, alongside IPP, KIT and other partners, unveiled Stellaris — a stellarator concept that integrates physics, engineering and maintenance. The fresh investment will enable Proxima Fusion to complete its Stellarator Model Coil (SMC) by 2027, a crucial step in validating HTS technology for stellarators and promoting European HTS innovation. The company is finalising the location for Alpha, its demonstration stellarator, and is in discussions with several European governments. Alpha, expected to commence operations in 2031, will be pivotal for demonstrating net energy gain (Q>1) and advancing towards the first-of-its-kind fusion power plant. Proxima Fusion is also expanding its team, which currently exceeds 80 members, across three locations: its Munich headquarters, the Paul Scherrer Institute near Zurich and the Culham fusion campus near Oxford. "German fusion energy firm Proxima Fusion secures $150m financing" was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sciortino: Proxima Fusion Is Like a European Treasure
It's time for the German government to go big on nuclear fusion, says Francesco Sciortino, CEO of Proxima Fusion. The German nuclear fusion energy startup has just raised 130 million as it seeks to build a demonstration version of its pioneering fusion power plant by 2031. "The company should feel like a European treasure," says Sciortino. He spoke to Bloomberg's Tom Mackenzie on "Daybreak: Europe." Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
11-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Sciortino: Proxima Fusion Is Like a European Treasure
It's time for the German government to go big on nuclear fusion, says Francesco Sciortino, CEO of Proxima Fusion. The German nuclear fusion energy startup has just raised €130 million as it seeks to build a demonstration version of its pioneering fusion power plant by 2031. 'The company should feel like a European treasure,' says Sciortino. He spoke to Bloomberg's Tom Mackenzie on "Daybreak: Europe." (Source: Bloomberg)
Bloomberg
11-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Bloomberg Daybreak: Europe 06/11/2025
Bloomberg Daybreak Europe is your essential morning viewing to stay ahead. Live from London, we set the agenda for your day, catching you up with overnight markets news from the US and Asia. And we'll tell you what matters for investors in Europe, giving you insight before trading begins. Today's guests: Sree Kochugovindan, senior research economist at aberdeen. Liquidity co-founder and CEO, Ron Daniel & Proxima Fusion's CEO Francesco Sciortino. (Source: Bloomberg)
CNBC
11-06-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Europe's fastest-growing nuclear fusion company raises $148 million in record funding round
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. "Fusion has become a real, strategic opportunity to shift global energy dependence from natural resources to technological leadership," Proxima Fusion CEO and co-founder Francesco Sciortino said in a statement. "Proxima is perfectly positioned to harness that momentum by uniting a spectacular engineering and manufacturing team with world-leading research institutions, accelerating the path toward bringing the first European fusion power plant online in the next decade," he added. 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).
