By Christofer Mowry, Chief Executive Officer at General Fusion
In the closing days of 2019 General Fusion put the finishing touches on a new round of financing. Of course, it was not really we who did all the work, but rather a global syndicate of stakeholders who leaned into the challenge of commercializing fusion energy with private and public funding for General Fusion’s mission.
On December 16th we announced the successful closing of USD$65 million in Series E equity financing. The financing was led by Temasek, a global investment company headquartered in Singapore. This USD$65 million of new financing complements CAD$50 million in additional investment from Canada’s Strategic Innovation Fund, which we also negotiated last year. These are significant investments and signal serious commitments to General Fusion and our technology. It is also another signpost that the world is pivoting toward fusion as the necessary complement to other technologies which, collectively, will enable the carbon-free energy future we all need.
This new funding enables the company to formally launch the program to design, construct, and subsequently operate our Fusion Demonstration Plant. This prototype facility is intended to confirm the performance of General Fusion’s magnetized target fusion technology in a power plant-relevant environment. Pursuit of this next important step toward commercially viable fusion energy reflects the growing global collaboration between public and private stakeholders in this transformative technology. General Fusion has now attracted more than USD$200 million in funding to develop its practical approach to fusion energy.
These funding successes are perhaps the most visible dimension of this collaboration, but not the only important one. Peering more deeply into our new syndicate of investors yields insight into a broadening base of stakeholders in General Fusion. Hatch, a globally recognized engineering company with whom we have worked over the past several years, decided it was time to participate in our venture more directly. They evidence growing confidence by our industrial partners in the maturation of our fusion technology. An expanding base of impact investors, investors who quite clearly understand the environmental challenges of sustainable growth facing society, also recognize that practical fusion energy is a critically important capability for the 21st century.
I find this broadening network of motivated stakeholders the most exciting win for fusion in all of this good news. Because commercializing fusion is necessarily a collaborative enterprise, a rethinking of what is possible, a reimagining of what is necessary.
