google has backed Germany-based Proxima Fusion, which aims to build Europe’s first commercial fusion power plant, with 411 million euros ($468 million) in financing, the company announced Tuesday.
Nuclear fusion is a process in which two hydrogen atoms combine to form one helium atom, releasing enormous amounts of energy.
Despite the promise of abundant energy, the technology has not been commercially deployed and the industry is scrambling to overcome technical challenges. All modern nuclear power plants use nuclear fission, which involves the splitting of atoms.
Proxima, valued at $2.7 billion, said Google’s investment confirms its continued interest in nuclear fusion as a potential long-term source of stable, abundant, carbon-free energy.
The round was led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with RWE and Google participating as strategic investors. Other venture capital firms also participated, including Plural, UVC Partners, Balderton, and Cherry Ventures.
“Europe is competing with the United States and China for the first fusion power plant,” co-founder and CEO Francesco Sciortino said in a statement.
“Proxima’s funding shows that Europe can not only invent breakthrough technologies, but also build globally competitive companies around them,” he added.
“Investors recognize both the urgency and opportunity of what we are doing and are supporting the development of a power generation energy technology company.”
What is Stellarator Fusion Technology?
Proxima is developing stellarator technology, one of the few approaches to nuclear fusion, and hopes to have a fusion demonstrator, a proof-of-concept precursor to a commercial power plant, up and running in the early 2030s.
Construction of the commercial power plant is targeted for the second half of this decade, the company said.
Proxima said the funding will help expand production of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cables and magnets, as well as develop the engineering and manufacturing systems needed for the Stellarator.
Proxima plans to hire across engineering, manufacturing and operations to accelerate progress, the company said.
Comparing Proxima to US fusion startups
Proxima is by some margin the most-funded fusion startup in Europe, but U.S. companies working on the technology have raised significantly more.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) raised $863 million in August, bringing its total funding to $2.9 billion, according to Dealroom. Sam Altman-backed Helion Energy raised $465 million last month, bringing its total funding to $1.5 billion.
Google is also an investor in CFS, signing an offtake agreement with the company in June 2025, after the first commercial plant is operational.
“Fusion has great potential as a future energy source. It’s clean, abundant, inherently safe, and can be built anywhere,” the company said in a blog post at the time.
Google emphasized that hurdles remain to be overcome with the technology, adding that while convergence could change the world, commercializing the technology “will be extremely difficult and success is not guaranteed.”
