Google and RWE Back Proxima Fusion at $2.7B to Build Europe's First Commercial Fusion Plant
About This Episode
Munich stellarator startup Proxima Fusion raised 411 million euros ($468M) from investors including Google and German utility RWE, reaching a 2.4 billion euro ($2.7B) valuation. It is now the best-financed fusion company in Europe and plans to build the continent's first commercial fusion plant at a former nuclear fission site in Bavaria, with a demonstrator targeted for the early 2030s.
Our Take
A week after headlines about AI's exploding electricity demand, the same tech giants are writing checks on the supply side, and Google's equity bet on a European stellarator turns fusion into an energy-sovereignty race whose payoff arrives in the 2030s while the demand is here today.
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