Canada-based nuclear energy technology company General Fusion has secured C$27m ($22m) in the first tranche of its latest funding round, from investors including oil and gas company Cenovus Energy.
The round was led by Khazanah Nasional Berhad, the strategic investment fund of Malaysia’s government, and included various existing investors in General Fusion, though their identities have not been disclosed. The company aims to close the round’s second tranche in late summer 2015.
General Fusion is working on commercial fusion technology dubbed Magnetised Target Fusion (MTF), which merges two atomic nuclei (the centre of an atom), and converts the mass that is lost during the process to energy.
MTF differs from existing nuclear energy production, which uses fission to generate power instead, splitting one atomic nucleus into two. The series D capital will be used to support MTF’s continuing development, and takes General Fusion’s funding to more than $80m to date.
General Fusion closed a $19.5m series B round in 2011 backed by Cenovus Energy through its Environmental Opportunity Fund, as well as Bezos Expeditions, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Braemar Energy Ventures, GrowthWorks Capital, Business Development Bank of Canada, Entrepreneurs Fund and Set Venture Partners.
In 2009, GrowthWorks, Braemar, Chrysalix, and Entrepreneurs Fund provided $9m of series A funding for General Fusion that was boosted by a further $13m, dependent on milestones, invested by the government-backed Sustainable Development Canadian Technology Fund.
According to regulatory filings, the company secured $3.6m across two rounds in between 2012 and 2014.