Investors are sending General Fusion soaring as it becomes the first publicly traded fusion company

General fusion It began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Exchange today under the symbol GFUZ, becoming the first fusion energy company listed on the stock exchange, beating competitors and… Trump-backed company TAE Technologies In several months.

And investors seem to want in. The stock rose as trading began Monday and is now up 40% from $12.85 as of 12:50 p.m. ET.

General fusion Announced in January It will merge with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III, and the deal was completed last week.

Without the recoveries, the fusion energy company could have added as much as $230 million to its balance sheet. But most de-SPAC deals see a wave of redemptions before the merger is complete. This is no exception, and while the company has not yet revealed the exact amount, A a report The Globe and Mail estimates that General Fusion could get less than $30 million after clawbacks and fees.

Along with the de-SPAC, General Fusion also raised $108 million from private investors. In all, the company says it has about $150 million in cash.

Before the reverse merger was announced, General Fusion was strapped for cash and struggling to raise more. The company was reportedly trying to raise $125 million. But by May 2025, that had not been achieved, and General Fusion – Laying off at least 25% of its employees. Three months later, the company convinced existing investors He put in another $22 million In what was said to be a “pay-to-play” tour.

That tour gave Gen Fusion some breathing room. But fusion energy is an expensive business, and the company soon began looking for more financing, culminating in a reverse merger announced in January.

Founded in 2002, General Fusion is one of the oldest fusion energy companies in the world. Over the years, it has risen More than $600 million From private investors.

The company’s approach to fusion energy, known as magnetotargeted fusion, uses electromagnetic fields to create a magnetized plasma, a soup of extremely hot particles, inside a chamber lined with liquid lithium. Once the plasma is formed, rings of pistons will be used to compress liquid lithium around the fusion fuel until the atoms inside the valves fuse and release energy.

Previously, the company said it would use steam to power the pistons, though it doesn’t specify that today, just saying that “synchronous mechanical motors” will push the lithium blanket inward around the plasma.

The company was hoping to use His LM26 It will reach a milestone known as breakeven, where the fusion reaction releases more energy than is needed to ignite it, sometime this year. Funding problems have pushed back the timeline, although it is likely to reach 2028 or later. General Fusion says it aims to have its first power plant operational “by approximately 2035.”