27-07-2025
Startups shatter records to develop game-changing energy facilities: 'Holds the potential to fundamentally transform the way we think about energy'
Fusion energy is heating up in Europe. Startups raked in a record €290 million (around $339 million) in the first half of 2025 as investors piled into the dream of near-limitless clean power, reported The Next Web.
This year's tally has already overtaken 2024's total of €185 million, which was the previous high watermark for European fusion funding, the publication said, citing Dealroom data.
Topping the list was Munich-based Proxima Fusion. It scored a record-high deal for a European fusion startup, raising €130 million in June.
The company is betting on a fusion device called a stellarator, an intricate, twisted ring of metal that founders hope could offer a more stable source of fusion energy than existing reactors.
Proxima cofounder Francesco Sciortino told The Next Web: "Fusion holds the potential to fundamentally transform the way we think about energy, changing the world from a place that's controlled by those with reserves of oil and gas, to one where technology lets countries control their own fate."
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, nuclear fusion is the process of combining two light atoms, such as hydrogen, into a heavier one, which releases a huge amount of energy.
It's the same reaction that powers the sun. Scientists are working to recreate it and make it commercially viable on Earth, something that some experts think could happen in the 2030s.
The benefit of fusion is that it doesn't depend on the weather, like wind and solar energy production, meaning cheaper, more predictable clean power for everything from public transport to data centers to heating homes.
Unlike current nuclear power plants that use fission, which involves splitting atoms and results in radioactive waste, fusion does not create long-lasting harmful byproducts.
The second-biggest European fundraiser was Munich-based Marvel Fusion, which raised €113 million in a funding round in March, per The Next Web.
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Marvel is developing a type of fusion that uses lasers to create extreme heat, causing atoms to fuse together and release energy.
Meanwhile, researchers in California achieved a fusion ignition in 2023, meaning they generated more energy than they used in the reaction.
While the technology is still a way off, experts think it could eventually become a source of virtually limitless clean energy — cutting out the need for carbon-emitting dirty fuels altogether and making the planet a healthier and safer place for generations to come.
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