Just over a year after securing an initial $50m tranche backed by Eni, MIT’s Commonwealth Fusion Systems has closed its series A round with $115m in capital.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a US-based fusion power technology spinout of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), yesterday closed a $115m series A round backed by MIT’s The Engine.
The company secured an initial $50m tranche in May 2018, provided in its entirety by energy supplier Eni according to a press release, though Maria Zuber, vice-president for research at MIT, said at the time that other investors had also participated.
The Engine, Eni, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and several undisclosed backers have now been confirmed as existing backers, who were joined by Future Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Lowercase Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, Safar Partners, Schooner Capital and Starlight Ventures.
Founded in 2017, CFS is working on high temperature superconductor magnets that are expected to enable smaller and less expensive fusion power plants. The spinout is collaborating with MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC) to develop the technology.
The funding will allow CFS to demonstrate its technology at full scale, with plans to build the world’s first net energy gain fusion system, Sparc, by 2025. Sparc will serve as the basis for a fusion power plant, called Arc, expected to provide electricity to the grid.
CFS advances research led by Dennis Whyte and Martin Greenwald, respective director and deputy director of PSFC. They co-founded CFS with fellow researcher Robert Mumgaard, who is now CEO, and Zach Hartwig, assistant professor of nuclear science and engineering at MIT.
Dan Brunner and Brandon Sorbom are also among the co-founders. CFS was established through a collaborative effort spearheaded by Karen Gleason, associate provost at MIT, with the support of the Technology Licensing Office, the Office of the General Counsel, the Office of Sponsored Programs and MIT Energy Initiative.
Mumgaard said: “This visionary group of investors share our mission of revolutionising the energy landscape with a fundamentally new power source to meet our global demands and combat climate change.
“CFS is on track to commercialise fusion and deliver an inherently safe, globally scalable, carbon-free, and limitless energy source.”
