Renaissance Fusion raises $16.4M to develop nuclear fusion technology and generate unlimited carbon-free energy

The global energy demand is projected to grow 47% by 2050. Currently, fossil fuels still remain the largest energy source but the world-proven oil reserves will only last another 47 years. At the same time, researchers have also predicted that over the next 30 years cannot be met with existing clean technologies (such as solar or wind).

Even with the help of new energy storage methods, like hydrogen, the future energy gap cannot be closed reliably. It’s for this reason that nuclear scientists are researchers are in a race to a new type of energy source with zero carbon emissions called nuclear fusion.

Today, companies like Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, and Microsoft are betting on a $10 trillion energy solution for the planet with investments in fusion energy startups like General Fusion, Commonwealth Fusion (CFS), and Focused Energy. These are just a few of the startups in the nuclear fusion space. One other startup is Renaissance Fusion, a Grenoble, France-based startup that has been developing nuclear fusion technology for the past couple of years.

Renaissance Fusion recently raised €15 million ( $16.4 million) in a seed funding round led by climate tech venture capital firm Lowercarbon Capital, with participation from European investors including HCVC, Positron Ventures, and Norrsken. Renaissance Fusion will use the fresh cash infusion to triple its workforce to 60 and purchase additional equipment it needs to facilitate R&D and conduct its first experiments on the way to commercializing the technology.

Founded just two years ago, Renaissance Fusion is currently focused on developing parts that can be used in nuclear fusion reactors. Renaissance Fusion is also the first magnetic confinement fusion startup in continental Europe.

Unlike the existing nuclear reactor which uses nuclear fission, nuclear fusion harnesses the power of an artificial star on planet Earth to generate electricity and has great advantages over our current sources of energy since nuclear fusion produces no carbon, sulfur, or nitrogen emissions.

Nuclear fusion is a nuclear process where energy is produced by smashing together light atoms. Theoretically, nuclear fusion could provide a cheap, clean, and almost boundless source of energy. For example, one tablespoon of liquid hydrogen fuel—a mix of deuterium and tritium—would produce the same energy as 28 tons of coal.

The startup is building high-temperature superconducting coils called stellarators (from ‘Stella’, Latin for ‘star’), which the startup calls “the most efficient, steady, and stable fusion reactors on earth,” to demonstrate net fusion electricity. These stellarators generate strong magnetic fields, allowing a smaller reactor to achieve the same performance as a larger one.

“Three main approaches are close to demonstrating net fusion electricity. Laser fusion compresses a capsule to very high pressures by means of powerful lasers. Tokamaks and stellarators are doughnut-shaped devices that magnetically levitate hot ionized gases (plasmas) and heat them to temperatures hotter than the Sun,” the startup explains on its website.

Currently pre-revenue stage, Renaissance Fusion plans to begin selling both technologies towards the end of 2024. Founder Francesco Volpe says that, with very minor modifications, the pieces of the company’s technology can be applied to other industries that require strong magnetic fields — like medical imaging and energy storage.

“We are proud to support Francesco Volpe and his team in the emergence and industrialization in France and in Europe of a disruptive solution in energy production and distribution technologies. Grenoble is a highly strategic location that allows them to benefit from a favorable environment for the development of nuclear energy, a strong ecosystem such as the CEA, and an unrivaled pool of talent,” Alexis Houssou, Founder and Managing Partner at HCVC, said in a statement.

Renaissance Fusion Team