China’s nuclear fusion start-ups power up with record funding round
Startorus Fusion raised US$143 million, a record for a private firm, while Supermag New Energy received ‘several hundred million yuan’
China’s pursuit of commercial nuclear fusion technology has intensified this year, fuelled by a fresh round of financing for start-ups and state-backed initiatives.
Startorus Fusion last week raised 1 billion yuan (US$143 million) from its series A round, a record for a single financing round by a private nuclear fusion company on the mainland, according to a report by the Securities Times.
The deal, announced on January 12, was led by state-owned funds in Shanghai, which contributed around 400 million yuan, according to the report.
The Xian, Shaanxi province-based company had so far secured over 1.5 billion yuan from more than 50 investors, Chen Rui, the CEO and co-founder of Startorus Fusion, told the newspaper. He added that the firm might eventually consider listing on the Star Market, the tech-focused board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
The start-up plans to use the funds to construct its next-generation fusion reactor, targeting technical verification by 2028 and launching the pilot plant by 2032.
Supermag New Energy, another nuclear fusion start-up, said on Friday that it had completed an angel financing round worth several hundred million yuan, according to Shanghai Securities News.
Led by venture capital fund TopView Innovation, the investors also included CAS Star, Northern Light Venture Capital and Glory Ventures.
Shanghai-based Supermag specialises in making high-temperature superconducting magnets, a crucial component of nuclear fusion technology.
China’s nuclear fusion industry is making strides, propelled by a combination of state-backed initiatives and private enterprise.
In July, China Fusion Energy was set up under the state-owned China National Nuclear Corporation as part of a state initiative. The Shanghai-based company secured 11.5 billion yuan in its initial financing round, the highest so far among private and state-backed fusion firms in China.
Before that, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission, which supervises and manages state-owned assets and enterprises, said it would commit over 300 billion yuan to developing nuclear fusion technology up to 2030, according to The Beijing News daily newspaper.
The regulatory landscape has also kept pace with these investments. Last Thursday, the Atomic Energy Law took effect, providing a legal framework for the development of fusion energy.
China also launched an association specifically tasked with accelerating funding for the commercialisation of fusion technology.
The Fusion Financial Institution Alliance, consisting of 130 organisations in the banking, insurance and investment sectors, was formed at the Fusion Energy Science and Technology Industry Conference, held in Hefei on January 16 to 17.
In a Bloomberg interview last October, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates described China’s nuclear innovation as “very impressive”.
He said that the country’s investment in nuclear fusion was outpacing the rest of the world, adding that China was investing more “than the rest of the world put together, times two”.
Still, nuclear fusion technology has a long way to go before it can be commercialised for generating power.
In 2024, the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, the world’s largest fusion experiment, announced a four-year postponement of its major experiments, shifting the target date to 2039.