General Fusion, a Canadian nuclear fusion energy startup, has secured a lifeline with $22 million in new funding. This comes after the company laid off at least 25 percent of its employees in May to shore up its stretched finances. At that time, CEO Greg Twinney published an open letter pleading for new investment.
The additional cash provides General Fusion with some breathing room, though not much. A subset of the company’s existing investors provided the capital in what is reported to be a pay-to-play financing round. This structure requires existing investors to participate to maintain their ownership stakes. The investors include Chrysalix Venture Capital, Gaingels, Hatch, MILFAM, JIMCO, PenderFund, Presight Capital, Segra Capital Management, and Thistledown Capital. As part of the deal, PenderFund and Segra gained seats on the company’s board.
Although the company described the round as oversubscribed, the $22 million falls far short of the $125 million it was reportedly seeking. According to reports, the chief investment officer at Segra Capital stated that this sum was the least amount of capital possible to help the company reach its next scientific milestone. Founded in 2002, General Fusion had raised $440 million prior to this new funding.
Just months before its financial troubles became public, the company activated its newest device, the Lawson Machine 26 (LM26). This machine is a half-scale prototype of a commercial-scale reactor. The new funding will give General Fusion more time to operate the LM26 as it attempts to hit key scientific goals.
The company is pursuing a technology known as magnetized target fusion. Inside its reactor, electricity flows through deuterium-tritium fuel, which are heavy hydrogen isotopes. This generates a magnetic field to contain the plasma. That plasma is then compressed by a liquid lithium wall forced inward by steam-driven pistons. This combination is designed to drive the temperature and pressure high enough to trigger a fusion reaction.
When it commissioned the LM26 in March, General Fusion said it expected the device to achieve scientific breakeven in 2026. Scientific breakeven is a term meaning the energy generated by a fusion reaction equals the amount of energy required to start it. Reaching this milestone is crucial for proving a reactor design’s viability, though it does not guarantee commercial success.
Today, General Fusion confirmed it is still pursuing scientific breakeven but did not provide a specific timeline. The company also listed two intermediary goals: heating plasmas to 10 million degrees Celsius and then to 100 million degrees Celsius. Given the limited size of the new funding, it is likely the company will focus on the most achievable milestones to convince investors to provide further capital. While the funding has bought the company a few precious months, it may find itself in another difficult position unless it can deliver promising results.