Proxima Fusion promises us infinite energy – soon

This year's Founder Scene Awards were themed “Impact”. Here you can find out more about the idea and technology of our winning startup in the Deep Tech & AI category: Proxima Fusion.

With the Gründerszene Awards 2024 *Impact Edition*, we honored outstanding startups that have impressed in their respective categories through innovation and a good business model, as well as through sustainability and social impact.

There were five categories in total: Climate Tech, Consumer Goods & Commerce, Deep Tech & AI, Health Tech and Newcomer. Here we introduce you to our winner in the Deep Tech & AI category: Proxima Fusion.

There are technologies that MUST be researched. Even if it will be years before we have the first results in our hands. One of these technologies is fusion power plants, which – to put it very simply – promise infinite and CO2-neutral energy. And if the startup Proxima Fusion has its way, we could have the first fusion reactor in use by the end of the 2030s. In Germany. And therefore possibly decades earlier than experts had previously predicted.

Proxima Fusion is a spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. In addition to the Max Planck Society, the founding team comes from MIT and Google, among others.

Millions and billions for Proxima Fusion

The Munich-based startup first raised seven million euros in a pre-seed round in May 2023 and a short time later closed an angel round with half a million euros. A further 20 million euros were added in the seed round in April 2024. Investors include the High-Tech Gründerfonds, the DeepTech & Climate Fund, UVC Partners, Bayern Kapital and Redalpine. Well-known business angels are also there, including the founders of Flixbus and the creators of Helsing.

In addition to the million-dollar financing, Proxima Fusion is building on at least 1.3 billion euros in public investments. These flowed and flow into a fusion reactor experiment that the startup is working with, together with the Max Planck Institute.

The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is now supporting the Munich startup with a further 6.5 million euros. In partnership with the University of Bonn, the Jülich Research Center and the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the aim is to advance the development and improvement of stellarator nuclear power plants with the help of artificial intelligence (AI).

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Fusion reactions: why is it so complicated?

But why does it take so long and why does it require billions in research? This is due to the complexity and extreme conditions that exist during nuclear fusion. It happens all the time in the sun, where atoms fuse and release energy. But the conditions are completely different than on Earth, with temperatures and pressures in the millions and billions. Replicating this on Earth is correspondingly challenging.

In addition, the energy that comes out must be greater than what is put in. This requires a so-called plasma – an extremely heated gas mixture – which must be maintained long enough. And: If the energy is there, it must also be possible to use it. All of this is scientifically and technically challenging.

The approaches to this are different. Proxima Fusion relies on plasma that is enclosed with magnets. Specifically, the startup relies on a so-called stellarator reactor. It is significantly more complex than other magnetic machines of this type, but also more controllable. One of them is in Germany, in Greifswald, and is called Wendelstein 7-X.

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This is what the Proxima Fusion founder says about winning the Gründerszene Award

Now Proxima Fusion won the Founder Scene Award. It was presented by Alex von Frankenberg, head of the HTGF. Among other things, he praised the fact that the startup wanted to build a prototype as early as 2031 that would deliver more energy than it needs. “In order to then deliver clean, reliable, base-load energy, which we unfortunately no longer have in Germany – with all the problems,” says von Frankenberg. “What excites me personally is that you have the chance to produce an absolute tech world market leader from Germany.”

The award was received by Proxima Fusion founder Jorrit Lion. This prototype, Lion said at the award ceremony, was the first step towards a fusion reactor in Europe at the end of the 1930s. “We are building on technology that we developed here in Germany. “Also together with the institute, with a public-private collaboration,” says Lion. “We see ourselves as part of the solution, not THE solution. This is an ecosystem challenge, it also includes suppliers, there is large hardware that needs to be manufactured. And it takes politics, the regulatory framework, which is very important. We will do our part and push towards the goal as quickly as possible. That’s why I’m happy about the prize and about the shared challenge here in Germany over the next few years.”