Realta Fusion – a new startup focused on fusion energy – recently announced $12 million in financing to develop compact magnetic mirror fusion technology. The company had raised a seed investment of $9 million led by Khosla Ventures and received an award of $3 million from the US Department of Energy’s Fusion Development Program. The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) – through which Realta licensed its core technology – also joined in the seed round.
Fusion energy is going to be critical in achieving global net zero greenhouse gas emission targets. Even though there has been rapid adoption of renewables like wind and solar, more than 80% of global energy is still supplied by fossil fuels and industry, in particular, has proven difficult to decarbonize. Many of the world’s most critical manufacturing processes require firm, always-on sources of high temperature heat.
Realta was spun out from a $10 million ARPA-e funded project at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, which was led by Professor Cary Forest, who is also company co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer. The company is targeting industrial heat and power as an early application for its fusion technology in which the ability to operate at a wide range of scales is a significant advantage. And Realta’s compact magnetic mirror will produce net energy at smaller scales than competing toroidal systems and has the potential to be a lower cost and less complex generator of zero-carbon heat and power.
KEY QUOTES:
“We are applying next-generation superconducting magnets and major advances in plasma stability to the relatively mature concept of the magnetic mirror. This funding will enable us to build out our team and complete the physics design for our break-even class device, BEAM, which will be our last experimental step before designing industrial fusion energy systems.”
— Realta CEO Kieran Furlong
“At Khosla Ventures we come in early to make bold and impactful bets. For the world to get to net zero green-house gas emissions, fusion energy is one of the most powerful accelerators. In Realta, we saw a team that has made significant technical advances and can iterate quickly and cost-effectively to get to commercial fusion energy.”
— Alice Brooks, principal at Khosla Ventures
