Focused Energy raises a massive $240 million Series A for its laser-powered fusion technology

Focused Energy recently raised a $240 million Series A round, one of the largest early-stage rounds for a fusion energy startup.

The new round, announced last week, brings the company’s total private equity capital to $300 million, the company told TechCrunch. The startup has also received $200 million in grants, collectively making it one of the startups Most Funded Merger Startups.

Based in Germany Concentrated energy Technologies Inc. is developing a reactor that uses lasers to compress fusion fuel, a technique known as inertial confinement. The laser fires at the fuel target, which compresses under the attack to create the conditions for fusion. When the atoms inside the fuel finally fuse, they release large amounts of energy.

The company is basing its design on the experiment conducted at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. This experience is so far The first and only One to create a controlled nuclear fusion reaction that releases more energy than it takes to ignite. The NIF connection is more than just a conceptual connection — Debbie Callahan, who helped design the NIF’s fuel target, joined Focused Energy in December as head of strategy.

At Focused Energy, Callahan is working to simplify the fuel target. The NIF target is complex and difficult to manufacture, and the facility only fires about 400 rounds a year. The concentrated energy, on the other hand, would need to do 10 shots per second, or about 864,000 shots per day.

One simplification involves eliminating the holoraum, a precision-machined gold cylinder that converts laser energy into X-rays. X-rays compress the fuel pellets in the NIF. Focused energy laser system It’s what industry insiders call “direct propulsion” — that is, laser beams press directly onto the fuel pellets. This should help boost the reactor’s efficiency, facilitating energy production.

Focused Energy hopes to build its first experimental system, Lighthouse, on the site of a decommissioned nuclear fission power plant in Germany that was operated by RWE.

RWE was the lead investor in the Series A, Focused Energy told TechCrunch. The tour also included participation from the German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation (SPRIND), the Prime Movers Lab, and the European Innovation Council Fund.

Despite the size of this Series A, the merger industry has been a favorite among investors this year. Last week, Thea Energy It raised $100 million To develop a pixel-inspired fusion reactor. In February, Inertia Enterprises raised a sum $450 million Series A To develop its own reactor, which could be a close competitor to Focused Energy’s reactor. In January, Type One Energy told TechCrunch that it had done just that It raised nearly $90 million About $250 million Series B.