"Artificial sun" lines up for market launch; last year saw a record number of financing rounds for fusion startups.

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As the fusion industry gradually approaches commercial reality, relevant startups are accelerating their transition from laboratories to capital markets, and leading companies are quickening their pace of going public through SPAC listings.

According to data from the Financial Times citing PitchBook, venture capital firms participated in 43 financing rounds in the fusion sector last year, hitting a record high; the total investment reached $2.3 billion, the highest level since 2021. Investors are pouring into the sector, hoping that this technology—which promises cheap, abundant, and carbon-free energy—will eventually become economically viable.

Although most funding still comes from private markets, leading companies have started seeking public listings to support multi-billion-dollar projects.

Last month, General Fusion announced that it would go public via a SPAC merger, with a valuation of about $1 billion. After the expected deal is completed in mid-2026, it will become the first pure fusion company to be publicly listed. In addition, TAE Technologies also stated its plans to seek a public listing through an all-stock merger with Trump Media & Technology Group, with a valuation of $6 billion.

Capital Influx and Listing Boom

Fusion technology aims to replicate the reaction that powers the sun, by forcing atomic nuclei to combine at extremely high temperatures or pressures to generate energy. Unlike fission, which produces nuclear waste, fusion is regarded as the "Holy Grail" of clean energy. Although no private fusion company has commercially achieved fusion—that is, proved its technology can generate more electricity than it consumes—this has not stopped the flow of capital.

Market data show that investors’ interest in the industry has extended to retail groups. Kristi Marvin, founder and CEO of data provider SPACInsider, commented that retail investors "love anything that feels futuristic." She noted that, even though the commercial prospects for these companies remain quite distant, retail investors are undeterred.

The structure of General Fusion’s public listing also reflects the market’s optimism. As part of the SPAC transaction, PIPE funding from institutional investors was priced not only above the issue price, but also pushed the company’s valuation to the $1 billion level—signifying that the industry is moving from simple proof of concept to deeper capital operations.

Industry Segmentation and Construction Cycle

As capital floods in, differentiated financing dynamics are emerging within the fusion industry.

The fusion company that has raised the most so far—Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS)—has collected about $3 billion. Ally Yost, the company’s Senior Vice President, pointed out that the industry is undergoing a transformation: while new entrants see more frequent financing rounds, the amounts per round are smaller; meanwhile, mature leading players have entered a phase of “higher capital intensity.”

This shift stems from companies moving from the “PPT concept stage” to the costly physical machine construction stage. Most of the frontrunners are developing demonstration devices—downsized versions of future power plants—aimed at proving the viability of the technology.

According to Yost, CFS is building pre-commercial devices and plans to construct its first commercial power plant in the US in the early 2030s. Another well-funded company, Helion Energy, has an even more aggressive target to achieve its first electricity sales by the end of 2028. General Fusion is also testing its pre-commercial device.

Different Betting Strategies and Market Skepticism

Faced with enormous capital requirements, companies are employing different strategies.

General Fusion CEO Greg Twinney commented that despite facing financing challenges in 2025, the company is adopting a more cautious approach than its competitors. Instead of placing "multi-billion-dollar bets" on a single machine, the company chooses to test individual components at a smaller scale. Twinney believes this approach allows them to reach similar milestones with “an order of magnitude less capital.”

However, there remains obvious skepticism in the market about these high valuations. Since fusion is still an unproven technology and the road to commercial applications is long, some in the financial world have issued warnings.

Ted Brandt, founder and CEO of clean energy investment bank Marathon Capital, noted that these unproven technologies are “many years away from cash flow” yet have received “crazy valuations.” He questioned the rationale behind this phenomenon, stating that it essentially means the market is “funding the next SpaceX.”

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