Pacific Fusion’s next fusion machine could clear a key hurdle to commercial power

The large, gated funding round allowed the company to plan farther in advance, eliminating the need to fundraise every few years, von Muench said. “I don’t think it would have been possible to move at this speed if we hadn’t designed the capital stack the way that we have.” 

Pacific Fusion will need every advantage it can get in the race to deliver a commercial power plant. The field is filling up with similarly well-funded startups, including Commonwealth Fusion Systems, Helion Energy, Proxima Fusion, and Inertia Enterprises, all of which are aiming to connect a fusion power plant to the grid by the mid-2030s, if not earlier.