Proxima Fusion
Assembly Line
Proxima Fusion Awarded €6.5M from BMBF to Partner with the University of Bonn, Forschungszentrum Jülich, and the Technical University of Munich on AI for Fusion Engineering
Proxima Fusion announced today that it has been awarded a grant of €6.5M from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) to advance the design and optimization of stellarator fusion power plants using artificial intelligence (AI) in partnership with the University of Bonn, Forschungszentrum Jülich, and the Technical University of Munich (TUM).
The “AI for Fusion Engineering” project partners combine interdisciplinary expertise in plasma physics, machine learning (ML), optimization, and computer science. Together, they aim to create AI-powered simulation tools capable of integrating physics and engineering simulations to optimize critical components of stellarators, including high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets, plasma-facing materials, and cooling systems.
Proxima Fusion bags €20 million seed to accelerate timeline to fusion power
Proxima Fusion, the first spin-out from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP), has raised €20 million in seed funding to propel the Munich-based startup towards building the first generation of fusion power plants based on quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarators with high-temperature superconductors. Proxima Fusion’s seed round, led by redalpine, was preempted and oversubscribed, with participation from the Bavarian government-backed Bayern Kapital, German government-backed DeepTech & Climate Fonds, and the Max Planck Foundation. Existing investors, including Plural, UVC Partners, High-Tech Gründerfonds, Wilbe, and TOMORROW of Visionaries Club have doubled down on their pre-seed investments.
Founded in 2023, the company builds on groundbreaking results from the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) experiment, the world’s largest stellarator at the Max Planck IPP, resulting from €1.3B of visionary public investment by the German Government and the European Union.