German Fusion Startup Proxima Secures $148 Million Series A Funding

A German startup named Proxima Fusion has secured a €130 million Series A funding round, approximately $148 million, led by Balderton Capital and Cherry Ventures. This funding brings Proxima’s total public and private funding to over €185 million ($200 million) and enhances its position as a top contender in the race for an alternative to fission-based nuclear energy. The company recently published its plans for a working fusion power plant in a peer-reviewed journal, advocating for the use of stellarators, a type of reactor that uses magnetic fields to confine hot plasma into a ring for fusion to occur. With the new funding, Proxima aims to achieve critical hardware demonstrations scheduled for 2027 and further develop its Stellaris design.

The company's CEO and co-founder, Francesco Sciortino, emphasized the importance of having the right partners to finance the next stages of their journey. The round was co-led by Balderton, which raised $1.3 billion in 2024, and Cherry, which closed its latest fund at $500 million in February 2025. Proxima's cap table is predominantly European, with participants including Bayern Kapital, Club degli Investitori, DeepTech & Climate Fonds (DTCF), Elaia, HTGF, Leitmotif, Lightspeed, OMNES Capital, and UVC Partners. Proxima, which has its headquarters and lab in Munich, is not only making strides in Germany but also has teams at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland and the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in the U.K.

The company's CEO, a physicist by background, expressed his pride in the European continent and his desire to contribute to its future. Investors are optimistic about the potential of nuclear fusion to provide clean, safe, and virtually limitless energy, with one partner at founders-led fund Plural referring to Proxima as a 'big shot' in the industry.