The fusion energy revolution has attracted some of the world’s most powerful investors and tech luminaries. Bill Gates, Sam Altman, and Peter Thiel are betting billions on nuclear fusion startups that promise to deliver virtually unlimited clean energy within the next few years.
Five fusion companies have each raised over $100 million in funding, collectively attracting more than $5 billion in private investment. These startups represent the vanguard of a technology that may fundamentally transform how humanity generates electricity.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems has emerged as a heavyweight champion of private fusion investment. The Massachusetts-based company has raised nearly $3 billion, including an $863 million round that closed in August. Gates and Breakthrough Energy Ventures lead an investor roster that has catapulted CFS into the pole position.
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CFS Co-founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard worked alongside MIT researchers to develop the company’s tokamak reactor design, called Sparc. According to the company, the doughnut-shaped reactor uses high-temperature superconducting magnets to contain superheated plasma at temperatures exceeding 100 million degrees Celsius.
CFS expects Sparc to become operational in late 2026 or early 2027. The company says its commercial power plant, Arc, will generate 400 megawatts of electricity near Richmond, Virginia. CFS announced in June that Google signed an agreement to purchase half of Arc’s output, demonstrating corporate confidence in fusion’s commercial viability.
The breakthrough momentum accelerated after a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory achieved scientific breakeven in late 2022, proving controlled fusion reactions could produce more power than the lasers imparted to fuel pellets.
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Helion has attracted Altman, Reid Hoffman, and Thiel’s Mithril Capital Management to support the most aggressive commercial timeline in the industry. The Everett, Washington-based company plans to deliver electricity from fusion reactions by 2028, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) serving as its first customer.
Helion’s field-reversed configuration reactor resembles an hourglass where plasma doughnuts collide at speeds exceeding 1 million mph. The company raised $425 million in January while activating Polaris, its prototype reactor. Total funding has reached over $1 billion, according to Helion.
Munich-based Marvel Fusion says it follows the inertial confinement approach that helped achieve the Department of Energy breakthrough. The startup fires powerful lasers at silicon nanostructure targets, compressing fuel to ignition temperatures.
According to Financial Times, Marvel Fusion aims to put electricity on the grid by the middle of the 2030s. Deutsche Telekom, b2venture, HV Capital, and others have contributed to Marvel Fusion’s over $199 million in total funding, according to b2venture.
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Tokamak Energy describes its approach as a compact spherical tokamak, a design shown in the 1980s to improve efficiency, stability, and cost. The U.K.-based company’s ST40 prototype generated 100 million degree Celsius plasma in 2022.
Tokamak Energy says its compact design requires fewer superconducting magnets than traditional tokamaks, potentially reducing construction costs for commercial power plants.
The startup raised $125 million last November, bringing total funding to $336 million from investors including Future Planet Capital, In-Q-Tel, and Capri-Sun founder Hans-Peter Wild, according to data from PitchBook. Tokamak Energy plans to deliver fusion energy in the 2030s.
Pacific Fusion emerged with a $900 million Series A, which was funded and announced last October by General Catalyst. Pacific Fusion is led by CEO Eric Lander, the scientist who spearheaded the Human Genome Project.
The company pursues pulsed magnetic inertial fusion, which compresses fuel using fast-rising, high-current electrical pulses rather than lasers. Pacific Fusion says it’s working to achieve net facility gain by 2030.
According to the Fusion Industry Association’s 2025 Global Fusion Industry report, private and public investors committed $2.64 billion to fusion companies in the 12 months leading to July, bringing cumulative sector funding to $9.77 billion, a five-fold increase since 2021.
FIA CEO Andrew Holland said the growth of capital, supply chains, and government partnerships shows that fusion is “no longer a purely scientific effort; it is a global industrial movement.”
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This article These 5 Fusion Startups Have Raised Billions Backed By Bill Gates, Sam Altman, And Google — Here’s When They Promise Real Power originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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