Nuclear fusion startup General Fusion announced this morning the completion of a US$19.5 million funding round that will provide the financing needed to complete the first phase of its development and demonstration program.
The investors include Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, who invested through his personal investment company, Bezos Expeditions.
The other new investor was Cenovus Energy, through its environmental opportunity fund, which was joined by investors Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, GrowthWorks, Braemar Energy Ventures, Entrepreneurs Fund, Business Development Bank of Canada, and SET Venture Partners.
“Cenovus is impressed by General Fusion’s innovative, pragmatic approach,” said Judy Fairburn, executive vice-president, environment and strategic planning for Cenovus Energy.
“General Fusion is a great fit for our environmental opportunity fund, which finances environmental innovations in energy and technology. This technology has the potential to revolutionize energy production."
General Fusion is looking to harness magnetized target fusion. It believes a power plant based on its technology could be built at a much lower cost than using conventional magnetic and laser fusion approaches. Such a power plant would make fusion a clean, commercially viable power source.
Doug Richardson, General Fusion’s CEO said, “We have a lot of work ahead of us, but the support of Cenovus Energy and Jeff Bezos, and the continued participation of every one of our venture capital investors, reflects the strength of our team, our plan, and the progress we have made.
“Partners like these are critical for General Fusion as we push to demonstrate and commercialize this technology within the decade.”
This lastest funding round comes on the heels of General Fusion achieving the first milestone in its Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) project.
Jennifer Harrison