Fusion power company Helion announced that it raised $425 million through a Series F investment round. The company said the funding would support its plans to generate zero-carbon fusion electricity and construct a fusion power plant.
$1B in Investments
The funding round reportedly increased Helion’s total investments to $1 billion and set its post-money valuation at $5.425 billion. The investment round’s members included Softbank Vision Fund 2, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mithril Capital, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Capricorn Investment Group, Nucor, and Good Ventures Foundation.
Reaching the Threshold
Helion recently launched Polaris, a seventh-generation prototype that aims to produce electricity from fusion. Polaris’ predecessor, Trenta, achieved 100 million degrees Celsius, the expected fuel temperature required for commercial fusion power.
Helion CEO and co-founder David Kirtley said that the company’s energy solution could help meet increasing global energy demand and establish the U.S. as an energy leader.
Plans for Fusion Power Plants
The funding round follows an announcement in 2023 that disclosed a power purchase agreement between Helion and Microsoft for a 50-megawatt fusion plant set to begin operations in 2028. The company also reached a customer agreement with Nucor to create a 500-megawatt plant in the 2030s.
Helion plans to establish its first fusion power plant in Washington state.
Image credit: Helion
