Less than a year after layoffs and a public plea by its CEO for new investments, General Fusion on Thursday announced a $1 billion SPAC agreement to take the fusion energy company public.
Vancouver, B.C.-based General Fusion plans to merge with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III in a transaction that could close by the middle of this year, making it one of the first fusion companies to go public. General Fusion expects to be listed on the Nasdaq and trade under the ticker GFUZ.
“We are completely focused on the future,” Megan Wilson, chief strategy officer for General Fusion, told GeekWire. “The path of any innovative company is not always linear.”
General Fusion is part of the race to produce abundant, clean energy by smashing together light atoms — replicating the reactions that power the sun and stars. The pursuit has become increasingly urgent as artificial intelligence and increased electrification of the economy drives up demand for climate friendly power.
Funding for fusion
Wilson said they explored various funding options, including a traditional IPO, but appreciated Spring Valley’s experience and track record in creating publicly traded companies. Spring Valley previously used a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) to bring NuScale Power, a fission startup, public in 2021.
The deal with General Fusion includes $230 million from the SPAC’s trust, presuming no redemptions, as well as a $100 million private investment in public equity, or PIPE.
The 115-person company previously raised a total of $400 million from investors, industry partners and government grants.
General Fusion’s merger news comes a month after fusion rival TAE Technologies announced its own agreement to go public.
“It’s really great to have competition in the market, and we think that that transaction is just another signal that the public markets are ready for fusion,” Wilson said.
California-based TAE has a $6 billion planned merger with Trump Media & Technology Group, the publicly traded parent company of the social media platform Truth Social. With the merger and new funding, TAE said that it’s aiming to site and begin building a utility-scale fusion plant this year.
Pursuing scientific milestones
Despite the massive investments flowing into the sector, none of the companies have demonstrated the ability to produce excess energy from fusion reactions. But they’re all reporting progress toward that goal, with TAE and Washington’s Helion Energy working on commercial facilities.
General Fusion, which launched in 2002, is currently operating its Lawson Machine 26, a magnetized targeted fusion demonstration device that’s about half the size of its planned commercial‑scale machine.
The new financial support will fund initiatives to hit essential scientific milestones with the device by the middle of 2028. That includes reaching 100 million degrees Celsius — a target it had earlier set for last year — and achieving the conditions needed to create fusion reactions that produce excess energy.
General Fusion hopes to be able to deploy a commercial fusion machine by around 2035.
“This transaction with Spring Valley positions us with the capital we need to be able to continue operating the Lawson Machine 26 as we pursue really transformative technical milestones that will ultimately put us on a path to the first-of-a-kind plant,” Wilson said.
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