General Fusion, Canada’s strongest bet for commercial fusion energy, is running out of money. In response to this significant reduction in revenue, the company has laid off workers. The 23-year-old company, which has raised approximately $440 million to date, is currently navigating a difficult funding environment that has prompted its leadership to reassess operations.
In July, General Fusion raised a $22.66 million funding round, giving it a decent amount of runway for the time being. A new open letter from CEO Greg Twinney recently spelled out just how brutal the current investment environment is. Twinney noted that the company is operating in a climate where “Today’s funding landscape is more challenging than ever as investors and governments navigate a rapidly shifting and uncertain political and market climate.”
The firm is renowned for its game changing academic device, the LM26. This innovative technology holds tremendous potential in compressing plasma, one of the key ingredients necessary to create the conditions to achieve nuclear fusion. While General Fusion has accomplished great things, they have yet to demonstrate that LM26 can achieve the scientific breakeven. This milestone is extremely important for the future of fusion research. If successful, LM26 would pave the way for realizing this goal.
So far, only one machine in the world has reached the elusive milestone of scientific breakeven. It is a testament to the complexity and challenges involved in advancing fusion technology. Experts believe reactors will need to produce more than three times today’s energy levels for commercial breakeven. They have to do it with dozens of times the energy achieved to date.
General Fusion is developing its technology along one of two primary paths commonly pursued by fusion startups: magnetic confinement or inertial confinement. The company has not yet disclosed what form its own plan will take. Investors and industry stakeholders are deeply interested because of the potential of its technology to drive down the path to commercial fusion power.
The company’s notable backers include high-profile figures and entities such as Jeff Bezos, Temasek, and BDC Capital, all of whom have invested in General Fusion’s vision of viable fusion energy. That landscape is changing quickly. The fate of General Fusion looks to be dependent on making those technological breakthroughs while raising more money as competition in the commercial fusion space grows.
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