Fusion energy company Helion announced a $425 million Series F funding round that will be used to scale commercialization efforts for the company’s fusion technology. This oversubscribed and upsized round had participation from new investors, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and a major university endowment, and existing investors, including Sam Altman, Mithril Capital, Capricorn Investment Group, Dustin Moskovitz through Good Ventures Foundation, and Nucor. This latest funding round will bring the total invested in Helion to over $1 billion and value the company at $5.425 billion post-money.
Helion recently started operating its 7th generation prototype Polaris, which is expected to demonstrate the first electricity produced from fusion. With its previous prototype, Trenta, Helion was the first private company to achieve a fuel temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius – generally considered the required operating temperature for a commercial fusion power plant.
Helion planned for its first fusion power plant to be sited in the state of Washington. In 2023, the company announced a power purchase agreement (PPA) with Microsoft to deliver electricity from a 50 MW fusion plant starting in 2028 and a customer agreement with Nucor to develop a 500 MW power plant in the 2030s.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are on the brink of delivering a transformative energy solution that can meet the world’s increasing electricity demands while preserving U.S. energy leadership. Our mission has always been focused on rapidly developing and deploying safe, reliable fusion generators that provide abundant, affordable electricity. Earning the support of such a prestigious group of investors is a testament to our progress in both solving hard scientific and technical challenges and tackling the practical realities of building hardware to commercialize a brand-new technology.”
- David Kirtley, Helion’s co-founder and CEO
“Fusion has the potential to be a truly transformational technology for industry and society and we see Helion as leading the race to bring that technology to market. After extensive due diligence, we’re very confident in Helion’s technology and leadership as the company moves from research and development into commercial production.”
- Ravi Mhatre, Managing Partner and co-founder of Lightspeed Venture Partners
