Proxima Fusion has raised €130 million ($150 million) in Series A funding to accelerate the development of its stellarator-based fusion power technology. The round, the largest private fusion financing in European history, was co-led by Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital.
The raise also drew support from UVC Partners, DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF), Plural, Leitmotif, Lightspeed, Bayern Kapital, HTGF, Club degli Investitori, Omnes Capital, Elaia Partners, Visionaries Tomorrow, Wilbe, and redalpine, who led Proxima's seed round in 2023. This brings the company’s total funding to over €185 million ($200 million) across public and private sources.
Founded in April 2023 as a spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), Proxima Fusion is working to commercialize clean fusion energy and reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The company remains closely linked with IPP and other institutions through public-private partnerships.
European governments, including Germany, the UK, France, and Italy, are increasingly recognizing fusion energy as essential to long-term energy independence and industrial competitiveness. Proxima aims to build on the region’s decades-long investment in fusion research and manufacturing capacity to bring fusion energy to market.
“Fusion has become a real, strategic opportunity to shift global energy dependence from natural resources to technological leadership,” said Francesco Sciortino, CEO and Co-founder. “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."
With its new Series A capital, Proxima Fusion will complete its Stellarator Model Coil (SMC) by 2027, a key hardware milestone to demonstrate the viability of high-temperature superconductor (HTS) technology in stellarators. This step is intended to stimulate further innovation in HTS within Europe.
Proxima is also finalizing plans for Alpha, its demonstration stellarator. The company is in advanced discussions with several European governments regarding site selection, with operations targeted for 2031. Alpha will be a critical step toward proving net energy gain (Q>1), marking a turning point toward scalable fusion energy.
The company is expanding its team of 80+ professionals across offices in Munich, Switzerland, and the UK, reinforcing its commitment to industrial-scale fusion deployment.
Proxima is developing its technology based on the Wendelstein 7-X experiment at IPP and has introduced Stellaris, the first peer-reviewed stellarator concept that integrates physics, engineering, and maintainability from the outset. This design has been praised for advancing quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarators as a strong contender for commercial fusion.
The company uses a simulation-first engineering model, integrating advanced computing and HTS materials. Its team includes talent from top global institutions and firms such as MIT, Harvard, SpaceX, Tesla, and McLaren.
“This investment validates our approach and gives us the resources to deliver hardware that is essential to make clean fusion power a reality,” said Dr. Sciortino.
Proxima’s new round has attracted support from a wide array of European investors. Cherry Ventures founding partner Filip Dames praised the startup for combining Europe's scientific excellence with the ambition to turn research into a viable energy source.
Daniel Waterhouse, Partner at Balderton Capital, described Proxima's stellarators as "power plants of the future" and said the firm was proud to back the team as a leading European force in global fusion development.
Plural partner Ian Hogarth added: “Since their first round... Francesco and the team have hit extremely challenging milestones ahead of schedule and hired a team that spans plasma physics, advanced magnet design, and computer simulation."
