Latest news with #CherryVentures
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
German fusion energy firm Proxima Fusion secures $150m financing
European fusion energy company Proxima Fusion has closed a €130m ($150m) Series A financing round, bringing its total funding to more than €185m in private and public capital. The Series A round, the largest private fusion investment in Europe to date, was jointly led by Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital, with substantial contributions from a consortium of investors including UVC Partners, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, Elaia Partners, Visionaries Tomorrow and redalpine. redalpine led Proxima Fusion's seed round in 2024, just one year earlier. Proxima Fusion CEO and co-founder Francesco Sciortino stated: "Fusion has become a real, strategic opportunity to shift global energy dependence from natural resources to technological leadership. Proxima is perfectly positioned to harness that momentum by uniting a spectacular engineering and manufacturing team with world-leading research institutions, accelerating the path toward bringing the first European fusion power plant online in the next decade." This influx of capital bolsters Proxima's mission to pioneer commercial fusion energy, a move supported by the European Union and national governments including Germany, the UK, France and Italy, who view fusion as critical for achieving energy independence and sustainable economic growth. Cherry Ventures founding partner Filip Dames stated: 'We back founders solving humanity's hardest problems — and few are bigger than clean, limitless energy." "Proxima Fusion combines Europe's scientific edge with commercial ambition, turning world-class research into one of the most promising fusion ventures globally. This is deep tech at its best, and a bold signal that Europe can lead on the world stage.' Established in April 2023 as a spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), Proxima Fusion maintains a strong public-private partnership with IPP. The company's approach to engineering is driven by simulations, utilising advanced computing and high-temperature superconducting (HTS) technologies. These strategies build upon the IPP's Wendelstein 7-X stellarator experiment's results. In early 2025 Proxima Fusion, alongside IPP, KIT and other partners, unveiled Stellaris — a stellarator concept that integrates physics, engineering and maintenance. The fresh investment will enable Proxima Fusion to complete its Stellarator Model Coil (SMC) by 2027, a crucial step in validating HTS technology for stellarators and promoting European HTS innovation. The company is finalising the location for Alpha, its demonstration stellarator, and is in discussions with several European governments. Alpha, expected to commence operations in 2031, will be pivotal for demonstrating net energy gain (Q>1) and advancing towards the first-of-its-kind fusion power plant. Proxima Fusion is also expanding its team, which currently exceeds 80 members, across three locations: its Munich headquarters, the Paul Scherrer Institute near Zurich and the Culham fusion campus near Oxford. "German fusion energy firm Proxima Fusion secures $150m financing" was originally created and published by Power Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site.
CNBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Europe's fastest-growing nuclear fusion company raises $148 million in record funding round
German start-up Proxima Fusion on Wednesday announced it had raised 130 million euros ($148 million) in a record funding round, with investors hopeful the company can soon develop the world's first commercial nuclear fusion power plant. The Series A financing round, which was co-led by investors Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital, represents the largest private fusion investment round in Europe to date. The buzz around nuclear fusion has kicked into overdrive in recent years. Advocates say the technology, which is the process that powers the sun and stars, can play a pivotal role in the energy transition. Fusion energy is the process of jamming together two hydrogen atoms to form one helium atom, which releases massive amounts of power. Scientists and engineers have been scrambling to recreate and harness nuclear fusion since the theory was first understood in the 1930s. "Fusion has become a real, strategic opportunity to shift global energy dependence from natural resources to technological leadership," Proxima Fusion CEO and co-founder Francesco Sciortino said in a statement. "Proxima is perfectly positioned to harness that momentum by uniting a spectacular engineering and manufacturing team with world-leading research institutions, accelerating the path toward bringing the first European fusion power plant online in the next decade," he added. If nuclear fusion can be replicated at an industrial scale, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says the technology could provide virtually limitless clean, safe and affordable energy that meets the world's demand. Not everyone is convinced, however. Researchers have suggested the technology is likely still a long way off from being ready to be scaled up for commercial use. The Series A financing round brings Proxima Fusion's total funding to more than 185 million euros in private and public capital, accelerating the Munich-based firm's mission of building the first stellarator-based fusion power plant in the 2030s. An alternative to the more common tokamak, a stellarator is a device that uses magnetic fields to confine plasma in the shape of a donut, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. These magnetic fields allow scientists to control the plasma particles and allow the right conditions for nuclear fusion. "Stellarators aren't just the most technologically viable approach to fusion energy—they're the power plants of the future, capable of leading Europe into a new era of clean energy," Daniel Waterhouse, partner at Balderton Capital, said in a statement. Proxima Fusion was founded two years ago as a spin out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP).
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Proxima Fusion Raises €130M Series A to Build World's First Stellarator-Based Fusion Power Plant in the 2030S
Europe's fastest-growing fusion company unlocks funding to advance commercial fusion technology and secure energy resilience for the continent. MUNICH, June 11, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Proxima Fusion, Europe's fastest-growing fusion energy company, today announced the close of its €130 million ($150 million) Series A financing — the largest private fusion investment round in Europe. The Series A financing was co-led by Cherry Ventures and Balderton Capital. Significant participation also came from UVC Partners, DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF), Plural, Leitmotif, Lightspeed, Bayern Kapital, HTGF, Club degli Investitori, Omnes Capital, Elaia Partners, Visionaries Tomorrow, Wilbe and redalpine, the latter of which led Proxima Fusion's seed round just one year ago. This brings Proxima Fusion's total funding to more than €185 million ($200 million) in private and public capital, accelerating its mission to build the world's first commercial fusion power plant based on a stellarator design. Francesco Sciortino, CEO and Co-founder of Proxima Fusion, said:"Fusion has become a real, strategic opportunity to shift global energy dependence from natural resources to technological leadership. Proxima is perfectly positioned to harness that momentum by uniting a spectacular engineering and manufacturing team with world-leading research institutions, accelerating the path toward bringing the first European fusion power plant online in the next decade." Shifting global energy dependence Proxima was founded in April 2023 as a spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), with which it continues to work closely in a public-private partnership to lead Europe into a new era of clean energy. The EU, as well as national governments including Germany, UK, France and Italy, increasingly recognize fusion as a generational technology essential for energy sovereignty, industrial competitiveness, and carbon-neutral economic growth. By building on Europe's long-standing public fusion investment and industrial supply chains, Proxima Fusion is laying the groundwork for a new high-tech energy industry—one that transforms the continent from a leader in fusion research to a global powerhouse in fusion deployment. "We back founders solving humanity's hardest problems — and few are bigger than clean, limitless energy," said Filip Dames, Cherry Ventures Founding Partner. "Proxima Fusion combines Europe's scientific edge with commercial ambition, turning world-class research into one of the most promising fusion ventures globally. This is deep tech at its best, and a bold signal that Europe can lead on the world stage." Proxima is taking a simulation-driven approach to engineering that leverages advanced computing and high-temperature superconducting (HTS) technology to build on the groundbreaking results of the IPP's Wendelstein 7-X stellarator experiment. Just earlier this year, together with the IPP, KIT and other partners, Proxima unveiled Stellaris. As the first peer-reviewed stellarator concept to integrate physics, engineering, and maintenance considerations from the outset, Stellaris has been widely recognized as a major breakthrough for the fusion industry, advancing the case for quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarators as the most promising pathway to a commercial fusion power plant. Daniel Waterhouse, Partner at Balderton Capital, said: "Stellarators aren't just the most technologically viable approach to fusion energy—they're the power plants of the future, capable of leading Europe into a new era of clean energy. Proxima has firmly secured its position as the leading European contender in the global race to commercial fusion. We are thrilled to partner with Proxima's game-changing team of engineers, alongside Europe's top manufacturers, to build a company that will be transformational for Europe." With this new funding, the company will complete its Stellarator Model Coil (SMC) in 2027, a major hardware demonstration that will de-risk high-temperature superconductor (HTS) technology for stellarators and stimulate European HTS innovation. Proxima will also finalize a site for Alpha, its demonstration stellarator, for which it is in talks with several European governments already. Alpha is scheduled to begin operations in 2031, and is the key step to demonstrating Q>1 (net energy gain) and moving towards a first-of-a-kind fusion power plant. The company will continue to grow its 80+-strong team across three offices: at the headquarters in Munich, at the Paul Scherrer Institute near Zurich (Switzerland), and at the Culham fusion campus near Oxford (UK). "Fusion energy is entering a new era—moving from lab-based science to industrial-scale engineering," said Dr. Francesco Sciortino. "This investment validates our approach and gives us the resources to deliver hardware that is essential to make clean fusion power a reality." Ian Hogarth, Partner at Plural said: "Proxima Fusion exemplifies a new kind of European ambition - a full force effort to develop the world's first fusion power plant. Since their first round of funding two years ago, Francesco and the team have hit extremely challenging milestones ahead of schedule and hired a team that spans plasma physics, advanced magnet design and computer simulation. Their peer-reviewed stellarator power plant design concept confirms that fusion really can be commercially viable, and creates an opportunity for Europe to be first to the target." About Proxima Fusion Proxima Fusion spun out of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in 2023 to build fusion power plants using QI-HTS stellarators. Proxima has since assembled a world-class team of engineers, scientists and operators from leading companies and institutions, such as the IPP, MIT, Harvard, SpaceX, Tesla, and McLaren. By taking a simulation-driven approach to engineering that leverages advanced computing and high-temperature superconductors to build on the groundbreaking results of the IPP's W7-X stellarator, Proxima is leading Europe into a new era of clean energy, for good. View source version on Contacts Media Contact:Maria DantzHead of CommunicationsProxima FusionEmail: Tel: 0031 614715715 Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
German nuclear fusion company Proxima raises 130 million euros of development funding
FRANKFURT, June 11 (Reuters) - Proxima Fusion, a Munich-based nuclear fusion technology company, said on Wednesday it has raised 130 million euros ($148.8 million) to help it move closer to its goal of developing a novel power plant. Worldwide, dozens of initiatives are exploring nuclear fusion, a nascent technology that seeks to harness the intense process that powers the sun to generate electricity. Competition has sprung up between state and private companies, between governments in European countries, the United States and China, and between technology options, such as plasma confinement, used by Proxima, or the use of lasers. Germany's new conservative-led government supports the technology within its energy agenda, putting Proxima and domestic sector rivals Gauss, Marvel and Focused Energy on the map. Proxima listed venture capital firms Cherry Ventures of Berlin and Balderton Capital of London as lead finance partners, along with 10 other entities. "Fusion energy is entering a new era - moving from lab-based science to industrial-scale engineering," said Proxima CEO Francesco Sciortino. "This investment validates our approach and gives us the resources to deliver hardware that is essential to make clean fusion power a reality." Cherry Ventures Founding Partner Filip Dames said: "Proxima Fusion combines Europe's scientific edge with commercial ambition. This is deep tech at its best, and a bold signal that Europe can lead on the world stage." Proxima said it will use the funding to complete a major hardware demonstration while continuing to grow its teams in Munich, near Zurich in Switzerland, and at a campus near Oxford in Britain. ($1 = 0.8739 euros)
Axios
4 days ago
- Business
- Axios
Exclusive: Security startup Maze finds way to $25M Series A
Maze, an agentic AI startup for cloud security, raised a $25 million Series A led by Theory Ventures, co-founder and CEO Harry Wetherald tells Axios Pro. Why it matters: The exploitation of vulnerabilities jumped by 34% last year with increasing cloud adoption. How it works: London-based Maze deploys thousands of agents to investigate customer's cloud data and identify and fix vulnerabilities. State of play: Other startups are riding the excitement for agentic AI. In April, Cynomi, a cybersecurity agentic AI platform for service providers, raised a $37 million Series B, and agentic AI security operations center startup Exaforce locked up $75 million in Series A. "The emerging capabilities of AI will transform security," says Andy Triedman, a partner at Theory Ventures. "The question isn't will this work? The question is who is going to win?" Zoom in: Existing investors Cherry Ventures and Tapestry VC also participated in the new round. It comes just nine months after Maze raised a $6 million seed round led by Cherry Ventures. What they're saying:"Investor interest came to us as security is going to go through a big change thanks to AI," Wetherald said.
