General Fusion CEO Greg Twinney issued a call for more funding as he shared news of layoffs at the energy company based in British Columbia.
“Today, we stand as a world leader on the cusp of our most exciting technical milestone yet — and one of the most challenging financial moments in our history,” Twinney wrote in an open letter published Monday. “We are closer than ever to delivering practical fusion, but success depends on securing the right financing partners to carry this breakthrough forward.”
He added: “We are ready to execute our plan but are caught in an economic and geopolitical environment that is forcing us to wait.”
In August, the 23-year-old company announced nearly $15 million in new funding, bringing its total dollars raised from government grants and investments to roughly $340 million.
At the time, the company employed 140 workers. A spokesperson for General Fusion did not say how many employees have recently been laid off.
The Globe and Mail reported that a quarter of the company’s workforce was let go as the fusion company seeks $125 million to continue its work.
General Fusion is one of the oldest commercial ventures in the quest to produce clean energy by generating plasma and smashing together light atoms — replicating the reactions that power the sun and stars. Tech companies and others are hopeful that fusion will succeed sooner than later as artificial intelligence and broader economic initiatives drive up the demand for clean power.
Fusion energy, however, has been a long sought-after solution. Physicists have made advances in the quest for fusion power, but no one has been able to generate more energy from the reactions than they take to produce.
In its pursuit, General Fusion has switched the technologies used in its fusion device, downsized its planned initiatives, and missed performance targets.
The company, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, in 2023 paused the groundbreaking of a large demonstration project in the United Kingdom. It pivoted to building the Lawson Machine 26, a demonstration reactor being built in Richmond, B.C. that will be half the size of the company’s planned commercial device.
Twinney highlighted the progress being made with the LM26, as the demo device is known.
“On April 29th, we achieved a transformative milestone at our Vancouver, B.C., headquarters in Canada — we successfully compressed a large-scale magnetized plasma with lithium using our world-first LM26 fusion demonstration machine,” he said. “The full, integrated system and diagnostics operated safely and as designed.”
Last month the company added Bob Smith, former CEO of Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture, as a strategic adviser.
Meanwhile, there is continued momentum for fusion efforts in the Pacific Northwest. In addition to General Fusion, the area is home to Avalanche Energy, Zap Energy, Helion Energy, Kyoto Fusioneering, Altrusion and ExoFusion.
- Seattle startup Avalanche last week shared plans for a first-of-its-kind facility for commercial-scale testing of radioactive fusion technologies in Eastern Washington.
- In January, Helion announced a $425 million funding, bringing its total raised to more than $1 billion to date. The Everett, Wash.-based company is working to create fusion energy by 2028.
- Zap, located just minutes from Helion, disclosed $130 million disclosed in funding last July, bringing its total investments to $330 million.
Twinney called out the “rapidly shifting and uncertain political and market climate” as a key source for its troubles, and plugged General Fusion’s potential.
“Everything is in place — the technology, science, LM26, and the know-how and passion,” he said. “All we need now is the capital to finish the job. We are opening our doors and actively seeking strategic options with investors, buyers, governments, and others who share our vision.”
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