Prime Movers Lab Leads Funding Round Following Department of Energy Award
AUSTIN, Texas and DARMSTADT, Germany, June 22, 2023 — Focused Energy, a laser-based fusion startup dedicated to developing fusion as a means of generating clean alternative energy, raised an additional $11 million in Series A funding, bringing their total funding to $82 million. The round was led by Prime Movers Lab, and previous investors VCP Capital and Tony Florence joined the round as well.
The funding enables the company to expand its role as a pioneer and innovation driver in laser-based nuclear fusion. The capital will be used for further research and commercialization of nuclear fusion as a safe, climate-neutral and virtually inexhaustible energy source.
In May, the Department of Energy awarded a $3 million Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program grant to Focused Energy. The company was one of only eight to receive funding. Focused Energy’s approach to fusion energy is based on the successful method developed at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, where in December, it produced the first net energy gain from nuclear fusion.
Focused Energy also earned a $50 million German Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation SPRIN-D award for the development of laser fusion infrastructure over the next five years. In addition, the company will receive $3 million from the German state of Hesse.
“Two of the world’s most innovative countries believe in our approach and are backing the work and research of our teams,” said Prof. Markus Roth, co-founder and CSO of Focused Energy.
“We believe that Focused Energy is the leading inertial fusion company and the continued technical progress and support from the U.S. and German governments proves that this team is the most likely to commercialise laser-based fusion energy with economically competitive power plants,” said Prime Movers Lab Founder and General Partner and Focused Energy Chairman Dakin Sloss. “I spend more time working with the Focused Energy team than any other company because I believe it has the greatest potential to transform billions of lives delivering on the promise of abundant sustainable energy.”
“Although the market environment has fundamentally changed over the past year, we have succeeded in acquiring substantial funding,” says co-founder and CEO Thomas Forner. “We are also very pleased to be creating a splash on both sides of the Atlantic. After all, the world’s increasing energy needs can only be solved globally.”
About Focused Energy
Focused Energy is a German American company spun off from the Technical University of Darmstadt in 2021 that will enable safe, clean, and virtually inexhaustible energy production through laser-based nuclear fusion in just a few years. The young company is based in Darmstadt and in Austin/Texas and employs the best minds from relevant research institutes and universities in Europe and the USA. Focused Energy uses the experience of its founders gained over the past 30 years in fusion research, coupled with the speed of a young German American company and private investment, to bring laser-based fusion to market and satisfy the world’s hunger for energy. To learn more, visit https://focused-energy.world.
Press Contact
Michael Zell
Fink & Fuchs AG
Berliner Strasse 164
D-65205 Wiesbaden
T: +49 611 74 13 1-(0) 57
E: [email protected]
Gavin Mathis
Prime Movers Lab
406-539-7277
[email protected]
SOURCE Focused Energy
