Commonwealth Fusion Systems Raises $84 Million in A2 Round
Cambridge, MA – May 26, 2020 – Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a startup commercializing fusion energy, today announced it has raised $84 million in A2 funding, bringing the company’s total funding to more than $200 million. The A2 round was led by Temasek with participation from new investors Equinor and Devonshire Investors, the private equity group affiliated with FMR LLC, the parent company of Fidelity Investments, as well as current investors Breakthrough Energy Ventures, The Engine, ENI Next LLC, Future Ventures, Hostplus, Khosla Ventures, Moore Strategic Ventures, Safar Partners LLC, Schooner Capital, Starlight Ventures, and others committed to accelerating the path towards commercial fusion energy.
CFS has grown significantly since its founding in 2018, with a program to develop high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets and design and build the world’s first net-energy-gain fusion system, called SPARC. Both are on schedule and below budget. With this additional funding, CFS will continue to grow its capabilities to offer fusion power plants, fusion engineering services, and HTS magnets. This includes accelerating progress to build SPARC, the new CFS headquarters, and manufacturing facilities. The funding will also support business development surrounding HTS magnets, the key component to SPARC which also has various other commercial uses.
“Even in these challenging times, we are thrilled to have this group of new investors including a global investment company and a world-leading energy company committed to the long-term investment in commercial fusion, enabling CFS to remain aggressive in building the first net-energy fusion machine as fast as possible,” said Bob Mumgaard, CEO, CFS. “This funding is further evidence of a growing fusion industry and the important transition that is taking place as fusion expands from public-funded research to the private companies that will drive commercial fusion to market to help solve climate change.”
“Equinor is a broad energy company and we will continue to invest in promising and potentially game-changing zero-carbon energy technologies. We are investing in fusion and CFS because we believe in the technology and the company, and we remain committed to providing energy to the world, now and in a low carbon future,” said Sophie Hildebrand, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President for Research and Technology at Equinor.
“Fusion energy is an investment in our future that offers an important path toward combating climate change. Our continued investment in CFS fits strongly within our mission as we seek long-term solutions to address the world’s energy challenges,” said Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director and Founder, Future Ventures.
CFS is collaborating with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center to design and build SPARC. This includes the development of the HTS magnets which will allow CFS to build significantly smaller and lower-cost fusion power plants. This collaboration is on track to demonstrate a successful 20 Tesla, large-bore magnet in 2021. This magnet test, the first of its kind in the world, opens a widely identified transformational opportunity for fusion energy. These magnets will then be used in constructing SPARC to demonstrate net energy gain from fusion for the first time in history. SPARC will pave the way for the first commercially viable fusion power plant called ARC.
About CFS
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is on track to bring fusion energy technology to market. CFS was spun out of MIT and is collaborating with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center to leverage decades of research combined with the innovation and speed of the private sector. CFS has assembled a world-class team working to design and build fusion machines that will provide limitless, clean, fusion energy to combat climate change. Supported by the world’s leading investors in breakthrough energy technologies, this CFS team is uniquely positioned to deliver the fastest path to commercial fusion energy.