Astonishing Amount of $149 Million Obtained by Proxima for Pursuit of Initial Fusion Power Station
A German startup, Proxima Fusion, is making waves in the world of fusion energy with its focus on developing a stellarator-based fusion power plant. The company, spun out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in 2023, recently secured a €130 million Series A funding round, marking the largest private fusion investment in Europe to date.
The funds will be used to build the first stellarator-based fusion power plant, which is anticipated for the 2030s. Proxima Fusion aims to produce stellarators for fusion power plants, a move that could significantly contribute to decarbonizing the energy grid.
Fusion, often referred to as the "Holy Grail" of clean and abundant energy production, produces power from hydrogen, the most common element in the universe, without producing carbon emissions associated with fossil-fuel based power. Unlike nuclear fission processes, fusion does not produce highly radioactive output.
Proxima Fusion's focus on stellarators is strategic. Stellarators are doughnut-shaped devices that magnetically levitate hot ionized plasma and heat it to extremely high temperatures to achieve fusion power. The company believes that this approach offers a more stable and continuous fusion power source, a major advantage for commercial energy production.
The funding round was led by Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital, with participation from multiple investors including UVC Partners, DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF), Plural, Leitmotif, Lightspeed, Bayern Kapital, HTGF, Club degli Investitori, OMNES Capital, Elaia Partners, Visionaries Tomorrow, and Wilbe. Redalpine, which led Proxima's seed round last year, also participated in the Series A round.
Proxima Fusion's growth is not limited to financial resources. The company has partnered with organizations like F4E (Fusion for Energy) and Hugging Face to leverage machine learning in stellarator design problems, indicating a focus on cutting-edge computational methods for engineering challenges.
With this investment, Proxima Fusion is positioning itself as a leading European player in stellarator fusion, backed by strong investment and partnerships, and with a clear goal of demonstrating a commercial power plant within the next decade. This investment is a bold signal that Europe can lead on the world stage in deep tech.
[1] Proxima Fusion. (2025). Press release: Proxima Fusion raises €130 million Series A. Retrieved from https://proxima-fusion.com/press/ [2] Proxima Fusion. (2025). Collaborations. Retrieved from https://proxima-fusion.com/collaborations/ [3] Proxima Fusion. (2025). Roadmap. Retrieved from https://proxima-fusion.com/roadmap/ [4] Proxima Fusion. (2025). About. Retrieved from https://proxima-fusion.com/about/
- With the funds from the Series A investment, Proxima Fusion plans to utilize science and technology for the development of their stellarator-based fusion power plant, specifically focusing on machine learning for stellarator design and computational methods to tackle engineering challenges.
- Proxima Fusion's success in securing a significant investment marking the largest private fusion investment in Europe, and their partnerships with leading organizations, positions them at the forefront of science and technology-driven solutions for the production of clean energy.
