US-based fusion power technology developer Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) closed a $115m series A round yesterday that included oil and gas producer Eni, which invested $50m in May 2018.
Eni joined Breakthrough Energy Ventures and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)-owned The Engine as existing backers in the second close, alongside new investors Future Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Safar Partners, Schooner Capital and Starlight Ventures.
Founded in 2017, CFS is working on high-temperature superconductor magnets that are expected to facilitate the creation of smaller and less expensive fusion power plants. It is collaborating with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) to develop the technology.
The funding will enable CFS to demonstrate its technology at full scale as it aims to build the world’s first net-energy gain fusion system, Sparc, by 2025. Sparc will serve as the basis for a fusion power plant, dubbed Arc, that is expected to provide electricity to the grid.
Bob Mumgaard, chief executive of CFS, said: “This visionary group of investors share our mission of revolutionising the energy landscape with a fundamentally new power source to meet our global demands and combat climate change.
“CFS is on track to commercialise fusion and deliver an inherently safe, globally scalable, carbon-free and limitless energy source.”
The original version of this story appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.
