Twilio co-founder’s fusion power startup raises $450M from Bessemer and Alphabet’s GV

Inertia Enterprises has raised $450 million to build one of the world’s most powerful lasers, which it hopes will serve as the foundation for a grid-scale power plant that the fusion startup intends to start building in 2030.

Inertia companies It is based on technology developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility. NIF is the site of the only controlled nuclear fusion reactions in the world Which has reached the scientific break-even pointThe reaction releases more energy than it initially took.

The Series A was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from GV, Modern Capital, Threshold Ventures and others. Inertia’s co-founders include Jeff Lawson, who co-founded Twilio and served as its CEO, Annie Kircher, who led successful experiments at NIF, and Mike Dunn, a Stanford University professor who helped Lawrence Livermore develop a power plant design based on NIF. Kercher remained in her position at Lawrence Livermore.

NIF’s neutralization experiments were a milestone on the path toward widespread nuclear fusion energy. However, significant progress is needed before a fusion power plant can deliver electricity to the grid. For inertia, this means building a laser capable of firing 10 kilojoules ten times per second.

The startup’s reactor relies on a form of fusion known as inertial confinement. In a flavor of inertial confinement in inertia, a laser bombards the fuel target, compressing the fuel until the atoms inside fuse and release energy. This technology is based on NIF designs, where laser light is converted into X-rays inside the target. The X-rays are what ultimately heat and compress the fuel grains.

Each of Inertia’s power plants will need 1,000 of its lasers to bomb 4.5mm targets, which cost less than a dollar to mass produce. In contrast, the NIF 192 uses a laser to fire Painstakingly crafted Goals that take dozens of hours to achieve. Inertia is betting that by using the same basic principles as NIF and applying a more commercial mindset, it can significantly reduce costs.

Inertia’s new round is the latest in a series of funding announcements from merger startups in recent months. Through this round and others, fusion startups have attracted more than $10 billion in investment. At least a dozen companies have It raised more than $100 million.

Last week, the Avalanche said it had happened It raised $29 million to develop its desktop-sized fusion reactor. Earlier this year, Type One Energy told TechCrunch that it had done just that It attracted investments worth $87 million In advance of the $250 million Series B it is currently raising. Last summer, Commonwealth Fusion It raised $863 million from dozens of investorsincluding Google, Nvidia, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

Two merging companies recently announced they are going public via reverse mergers. Gen. Fusion said in January that it would do so Merger with acquisition company Spring Valley III In a deal, the combined company is valued at $1 billion. He was formerly General Fusion Struggle To raise money from private investors. Earlier last month, TAE Technologies announced it would do so Merger with Donald Trump’s social media companyTrump Media and Technology Group; The combined company will be valued at $6 billion, according to the all-stock deal.