In its mission to build a magnetic mirror fusion machine, Realta Fusion has secured an additional $36M in funding.
The Series A round was led by Future Ventures. It also included participation from Avila VC, GSBackers, Khosla Ventures, Mayfield, SiteGround, TitletownTech, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.
- Realta had already raised ~$16M across previous rounds and grants, bringing total funding to ~$52M.
The testing phase: The company has been running the WHAM plasma experiment at the University of Wisconsin since last summer, using Commonwealth Fusion Systems-produced superconducting magnet to fire plasma shots. Realta will continue to conduct tests at WHAM, using the data to shape the design of its next machine: Anvil, a simple mirror machine that precedes an energy-producing fusion plant.
“We’ve got the computational physics know-how and the engineering to take those experimental learnings and now start figuring out how to turn that into a commercial fusion power plant design,” Realta CEO Kieran Furlong told Ignition.
Money moves: Furlong said the Series A should carry Realta through the next year and a half or so. In that time, the company is focusing on three key areas:
- Experimental work on WHAM
- Computational physics (including building a “real twin” of the design)
- Engineering design of Anvil
“We want to be able to say to investors in advance of our Series B that we have de-risked as much as possible,” Furlong said. “We’ve done everything we can. We’ve done the simulations. We’ve done the physics experiments in silico. We have got an operating point for Anvil. We’ve validated those simulations against real-world experimental data from WHAM, and that’s what our design is based on. So really, you can’t de-risk it further without actually going and building it.”
The company aims to have Anvil up and running by the end of the decade. Hammir, Realta’s first energy-producing plant, is expected to come online in the mid-2030s.
As for the funding environment these days, Furlong says things are looking up.
“It’s not an easy money phase, that’s for sure,” Furlong said, “I’m hopeful that our news today is actually kind of good news for the fusion sector overall, showing that there are still…new investors coming to the table, willing to invest in the promise of fusion.”
+ Want more? Furlong sat down with Ignition in February to discuss his path into the fusion sector, Realta’s approach to power generation, and the company’s challenges in development. Read the full Q+A here.
Lead Reporter of Ignition
