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Inertia Enterprises has raised $450 million to build one of the world\u2019s most powerful lasers, which it hopes will serve as the foundation of a grid-scale power plant the fusion startup intends to start construction on in 2030.<\/p>\n
Inertia Enterprises<\/a> is building on technology developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory\u2019s National Ignition Facility. The NIF is the site of the world\u2019s only controlled fusion reactions that have reached scientific breakeven<\/a>, in which the reaction releases more energy than it took to start.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Series A was led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from GV, Modern Capital, Threshold Ventures, and others. Inertia\u2019s co-founders include Jeff Lawson, who co-founded Twilio and served as its CEO, Annie Kircher, who led the successful experiments at NIF, and Mike Dunne, a Stanford professor who helped Lawrence Livermore develop a power plant design based on NIF. Kircher has remained in her position at Lawrence Livermore.<\/p>\n NIF\u2019s breakeven experiments have been a key milestones on the road to widespread fusion power. However, considerable progress needs to be made before a fusion power plant can deliver electricity to the grid. For Inertia, that means building a laser capable of delivering 10 kilojoules ten times per second.<\/p>\n The startup\u2019s reactor relies on a form of fusion known as inertial confinement. In Inertia\u2019s flavor of inertial confinement, lasers bombard a fuel target, compressing the fuel until atoms inside fuse and release energy. The technique is based on NIF\u2019s designs, in which laser light is converted into X-rays inside the target. The X-rays are what ultimately heat and compress the fuel pellet.<\/p>\n Each of Inertia\u2019s power plants will require 1,000 of its lasers bombarding 4.5 mm targets that cost less than $1 each to mass produce. By contrast, the NIF\u2019s system uses 192 lasers to fire on painstakingly crafted<\/a> targets that take dozens of hours to make. Inertia is betting that by using the same basic principles as NIF and applying a more commercial mindset, it can bring the costs down dramatically.<\/p>\n Inertia\u2019s new round is the latest in a string of funding announcements from fusion startups in recent months. With this round and others, fusion startups have attracted more than $10 billion in investments. And at least a dozen companies have raised more than $100 million<\/a>.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston, MA<\/span> Last week, Avalanche said it had raised $29 million to advance its desktop-sized fusion reactor<\/a>. Earlier this year, Type One Energy told TechCrunch it had attracted $87 million in investment<\/a> in advance of a $250 million Series B that it\u2019s currently raising. Last summer, Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised $863 million from dozens of investors<\/a>, including Google, Nvidia, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.<\/p>\n Two fusion companies recently announced they were going public via reverse mergers. General Fusion said in January it would merge with acquisition company Spring Valley III<\/a> in a deal that values the combined company at $1 billion. General Fusion had previously struggled<\/a> to raise money from private investors. Earlier last month, TAE Technologies announced it would merge with Donald Trump\u2019s social media company<\/a>, Trump Media & Technology Group; the combined company would be worth $6 billion, according to the all-stock transaction.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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