① Google has provided €411 million in financing to German fusion venture Proxima Fusion to support the development of Europe’s first commercial nuclear fusion power plant; ② Proxima is currently valued at $2.7 billion and plans to operate a pilot facility in the early 2030s, followed by the construction of a commercial power plant; ③ Google emphasized that while nuclear fusion holds immense potential, its commercialization remains highly challenging.
On Tuesday (July 7), Google announced it had provided €411 million (approximately $468 million) in financing to German fusion venture Proxima Fusion to support the development of Europe’s first commercial nuclear fusion power plant.
Nuclear fusion is the process of combining two lighter atoms, such as deuterium or tritium, into a heavier atom, releasing vast amounts of energy in the process.
Although this technology promises abundant energy, it has not yet been commercialized, as the industry races to overcome technical hurdles. All current nuclear power plants rely on fission, which generates energy by splitting atoms.
Google’s investment underscores its continued interest in fusion as a potential long-term source of abundant, carbon-free, and reliable energy. Proxima is currently valued at $2.7 billion.
Next-generation energy technology company
This funding round was co-led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with RWE and Google acting as strategic investors. Other venture capital firms participating include Plural, UVC Partners, Balderton, and Cherry Ventures.
Francesco Sciortino, co-founder and CEO of the company, stated in a press release, “Proxima’s fundraising demonstrates that Europe is not only capable of creating breakthrough technologies but also of building globally competitive companies around them. Investors recognize the urgency and opportunity of what we are doing and support our vision to become a next-generation energy technology company.”
Proxima is developing a fusion technology known as a “stellarator,” one of the few existing approaches to fusion. The company aims to bring its experimental facility—the proof-of-concept precursor to a commercial power plant—online in the early 2030s.
The company also stated that its target for constructing the commercial power plant is the latter half of the 2030s.
Proxima stated that the funding will help it scale up production of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) cables and magnets and develop the engineering and manufacturing systems required for fusion reactors. Additionally, the company will hire personnel in engineering, manufacturing, and operations to accelerate progress.
Significant potential
Although Proxima has raised significantly more capital in Europe than other companies, firms pursuing this technology in the United States have secured considerably larger amounts of funding.
According to reports, Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), a nuclear fusion venture spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, raised USD 863 million in August, bringing its total funding to USD 2.9 billion. Meanwhile, Helion Energy, backed by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, raised USD 465 million last month, taking its cumulative funding to USD 1.5 billion.
Google is also an investor in CFS and, in June 2025, signed the largest-ever power purchase agreement for fusion energy with the company, committing to purchase 200 MW of electricity once CFS’s first commercial power plant becomes operational.
In a blog post at the time, Google wrote, “Fusion holds significant potential as a future energy source: it is clean, abundant, and inherently safe, and can be built almost anywhere.”
Google also emphasized that, despite the technology’s potential to transform the world, commercializing it is “extremely challenging, and success is not guaranteed.”