The asset management VC of the Japanese insurance conglomerate joined the compact fusion energy company with a deferred investment, pursuing decarbonization and innovation in the energy sector
TEL AVIV, Israel, Aug. 31, 2023 — nT-Tao, the compact fusion energy company setting a new standard for the future of clean energy, today announced that MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital, the Japanese asset management arm of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company, has joined the Series A funding round in a deferred investment for an undisclosed sum. nT-Tao announced its Series A round in February of this year, closing $22M in funding led by Delek US – a Fortune 500 downstream energy company – Next Gear Ventures and Mayer Cars & Trucks Group, with additional participation from Honda, the Grantham Foundation, the lead investor in the company’s seed round, J-IMPACT, East Innovate (the VC arm of East Alpha) and OurCrowd. These new funds enable nT-Tao to continue to develop and test its Compact Fusion Reactor, expand its team of physicists, and pursue other regional and global partnerships.
nT-Tao is pioneering a compact and scalable nuclear fusion solution aimed at significantly reducing reliance on fossil fuels and overcoming the limitations of existing renewable energy sources. Leveraging the strengths of both tokamak and stellarator technologies (two competing approaches used in nuclear fusion research to confine plasma within magnetic fields to facilitate the fusion reactions), nT-Tao has developed its Compact Fusion Reactor and is currently in the experimental phase of C1, the first of its Series C prototypes.
“We are excited to have MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital join us on our mission as we continue to partner with companies dedicated to solving the climate crisis,” said Oded Gour-Lavie, CEO and Co-Founder of nT-Tao. “This marks the second strategic investment in nT-Tao from a Japanese conglomerate, and we look forward to expanding our partnerships in Japan and beyond, as we accelerate research and development of our compact fusion energy solution.”
“Fusion energy is the future of clean energy, and as a company that is dedicated to sustainable growth and addressing climate change, it is our responsibility to help enable that future,” said Ryosuke Ide, Investor of MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital. “We are impressed with what nT-Tao has achieved in such a short amount of time and the scientific approach they are taking and are excited to be a part of their journey to bring the cleanest form of energy to humanity.”
nT-Tao’s unique approach includes a proprietary magnetic chamber topology that dramatically reduces energy loss and effectively maintains core temperature, enabling the creation of a Super Stabilized Confined Plasma. Additionally, nT-Tao’s unique power supply technology is expected to enable plasma heating at densities orders of magnitude higher than other approaches. This, coupled with its significantly reduced pulse length, leads to an astounding increase in the rate of ion collisions, yielding greater overall efficiency which results in a much smaller fusion reactor footprint.
nT-Tao’s Compact Fusion Reactor design – the size of a shipping container – will be scalable and easily integrated into a multitude of settings and power requirements. Once commercialized, its versatile design and independent solution will make it adaptable for everything from industrial facilities to small towns and off-grid locations.
About MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital
MITSUI SUMITOMO INSURANCE Venture Capital is a Japanese venture capital firm, a wholly-owned asset management VC subsidiary of Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Company. The firm invests in domestic and foreign startups that have innovative technologies and business models with high growth potential addressing global social issues such as climate change, mainly in the areas of Climate tech, AI, fintech, and healthcare.
About nT-Tao
nT-Tao is disrupting the global energy sector by engineering a compact and scalable nuclear fusion energy technology with the goal of achieving commercialization this decade. The company’s proprietary ultra-fast plasma heating method will enable it to reach significantly higher densities than other fusion reactors, thereby making its fusion reaction orders of magnitude more effective and resulting in significantly greater efficiency of energy production than other leading solutions. Co-founded by Oded Gour-Lavie, Doron Weinfeld, and Boaz Weinfeld, emerged from stealth in 2022 and is headquartered in Israel. For more information, visit www.nt-tao.com and follow the company on LinkedIn and Twitter. nT-Tao will be at COP-28 in Dubai – please email [email protected] to arrange a meeting.
SOURCE nT-Tao
