At the heart of the global energy crisis lies a fundamental question: How can we deliver clean, abundant, and reliable power for all without the carbon emissions, resource constraints, and intermittency that plague today’s energy systems? Proxima Fusion is tackling this challenge by advancing fusion energy — the holy grail of power generation — to provide limitless, carbon-free electricity for Europe’s energy future and drive sustainable progress worldwide.
Today, Proxima Fusion, Europe’s fastest-growing fusion energy startup, announced its €130 million ($150 million) Series A financing — the largest private fusion investment in European history. This milestone brings Proxima’s total funding to over €185 million ($200 million), establishing the company as a frontrunner in the global race to realise commercial fusion power.
With the new funding, Proxima will complete its Stellarator Model Coil (SMC) by 2027, implementing high-temperature superconductor (HTS) technology. This critical hardware milestone will validate HTS for stellarators and drive European innovation. The SMC will demonstrate next-generation magnet technology essential for compact, efficient, and economically viable fusion reactors.
The company is also finalising the site for Alpha, its demonstration stellarator, set to begin operations in 2031. Alpha will be the first large-scale test of Proxima’s QI-HTS technology and a crucial step toward achieving net energy gain (Q>1), where the fusion device produces more energy than it consumes. This will pave the way for the world’s first commercial stellarator-based fusion power plant in the 2030s.
A leap toward commercial fusion
Proxima Fusion was founded in April 2023 by leading scientists and engineers from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), MIT, and Google X. Among them are CEO Dr. Francesco Sciortino, a renowned plasma physicist with experience at MIT and IPP; COO Dr. Lucio Milanese, an expert in plasma turbulence and fusion economics; Chief Scientist Dr. Jorrit Lion, who led stellarator design at IPP; Martin Kubie, an engineering leader from McLaren Racing and Google X; and Jonathan Schilling, a specialist in plasma physics and stellarator operations.
The founders launched Proxima Fusion after witnessing breakthroughs at IPP’s Wendelstein 7-X, the world’s most advanced stellarator, and recognising the urgent need for a European-led, commercial fusion solution. Their vision is to transform fusion from a scientific aspiration into practical, grid-ready technology, securing Europe’s energy independence and technological leadership.
Proxima has assembled a world-class team of more than 80 engineers, scientists, and operators from leading institutions and companies, including IPP, MIT, Harvard, SpaceX, Tesla, and McLaren. The company aims to build the world’s first commercial fusion power plant based on stellarator design, leveraging Europe’s scientific legacy and robust industrial supply chains.
What’s so special about Proxima Fusion?
Proxima’s technology sets it apart. Unlike most fusion startups pursuing tokamak designs prone to disruptions, Proxima pioneers the quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarator—a magnetic confinement device requiring no large plasma current, making it inherently more stable for continuous power generation.
Their flagship concept, Stellaris, is the first peer-reviewed stellarator power plant design integrating physics, engineering, and maintenance from the start. Using today’s supply chains, developed with IPP, KIT, and other partners, Stellaris achieves higher power density, better confinement, and lower operational risk than previous models.
Proxima’s approach centres on simulation-driven engineering, using advanced AI and computational optimisation to iterate stellarator designs, rapidly cutting development time and costs. Their proprietary “StarFinder” framework enables faster, cheaper, and more robust design cycles, overcoming traditional stellarator complexity.
Proxima’s reactors employ high-temperature superconductors (HTS) to generate stronger magnetic fields, enabling more compact, efficient, and cost-effective reactors than conventional superconductors. Validated by the €1.3bn public investment and Wendelstein 7-X results, this technology provides a proven foundation for their commercial roadmap.
Strategic investment for Europe’s energy sovereignty
Proxima’s Series A round was co-led by Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital, with participation from UVC Partners, DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF), Plural, Leitmotif, Lightspeed, Bayern Kapital, HTGF, Club degli Investitori, OMNES Capital, Elaia Partners, and redalpine, which led Proxima’s seed round just a year ago.
Francesco Sciortino, CEO and Co-founder of Proxima Fusion, commented: “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.”
European governments, including Germany, the UK, France, and Italy, increasingly recognise fusion as vital for energy sovereignty, industrial competitiveness, and carbon-neutral growth. Proxima’s public-private partnership with the Max Planck Institute and its simulation-driven approach builds on decades of European excellence in fusion research, now moving decisively toward deployment.
Behind Proxima: A new era for fusion and deep tech
“We back founders solving humanity’s hardest problems — and few are bigger than clean, limitless energy,” said Filip Dames, Cherry Ventures Founding Partner. “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.”
Daniel Waterhouse, Partner at Balderton Capital, added: “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. Proxima has firmly secured its position as the leading European contender in the global race to commercial fusion.”
Proxima Fusion’s growing team operates from three sites: its Munich headquarters, the Paul Scherrer Institute near Zurich, and the Culham fusion campus near Oxford. The new capital will fuel team expansion, key hardware demonstrations, and further accelerate the journey to commercial fusion.
Ian Hogarth, Partner at Plural, said: “Proxima Fusion exemplifies a new kind of European ambition—a full force effort to develop the world’s first fusion power plant. Since their first round of funding two years ago, 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. Their peer-reviewed stellarator power plant design concept confirms that fusion really can be commercially viable, and creates an opportunity for Europe to be first to the target.”
Fusion energy is entering a new era — from lab-based science to industrial-scale engineering. With this record-breaking Series A, Proxima Fusion is set to transform Europe from a leader in fusion research to a global powerhouse in fusion deployment, bringing clean, abundant energy within reach for the continent and beyond.
