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. It 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 helping create 17 publicly traded companies to date. 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.

Seattle startup Avalanche Energy is raising new funding to develop its compact fusion energy devices. A new SEC filing reveals a fresh $14.9 million round.

A company spokesperson declined to comment when contacted by GeekWire.

Avalanche and dozens of companies around the world are vying for scientific breakthroughs that would allow them to generate electricity from fusion reactions on a commercially viable scale. The sun and stars are the masters of fusion, smashing together light atoms under high-pressure, super hot conditions to produce energy.

Avalanche is pursuing a different strategy than many of its competitors, building desktop-sized energy devices and working multiple angles for revenue generation. That includes:

• Using its fusion machine to produce neutrons for customers in industries such as advanced materials science, semiconductor manufacturing, nuclear power and specialized medical treatments.
• The company has a Pentagon contract from the Defense Innovation Unit to develop technology for space propulsion and power generation.
• Last year, the startup landed a $10 million grant from the state to launch FusionWERX, a commercial-scale testing facility for fusion technologies in Eastern Washington.

Avalanche had previously raised $50 million from investors that include Chris Sacca’s Lowercarbon Capital, Founders Fund, Toyota Ventures, Azolla Ventures and others.

The fusion industry produced surprising headlines shortly before Christmas with the announcement of a $6 billion planned merger between Trump Media & Technology Group and California fusion company TAE Technologies.

The partnership aims to site and begin building what it calls the world’s first utility-scale fusion plant this year, with Trump Media committing $300 million in near-term funding. President Trump is the largest shareholder of Trump Media, the publicly-traded parent company of the social media platform Truth Social.

Avalanche is part of a fusion hub in the Pacific Northwest that includes two additional Seattle-area companies working to harness fusion power.

• Helion Energy in July broke ground on what it says will be the first fusion plant to put power on the grid starting in 2028.
• Zap Energy expects in the near future to commission its fifth fusion device, allowing it to continue testing and optimizing the different systems required by the technology.

The $6 billion planned merger between Trump Media & Technology Group and California’s TAE Technologies has sent a shock wave through the fusion industry — and is drawing skepticism from competitors in the Pacific Northwest’s fusion hub.

The partnership aims to site and begin building what it calls the world’s first utility-scale fusion plant next year, with Trump Media committing $300 million in near-term funding.

Physicists for decades have pursued fusion energy, a nearly limitless source of carbon-free power produced by smashing together light atoms in conditions hotter than the sun. So far, no one has demonstrated a fusion technology that’s financially viable for putting electricity on the grid, and some experts believe the field is still many years from that goal.

TAE, however, claimed on Thursday that it has cracked the riddle.

“We have the science solved,” Michl Binderbauer, CEO of TAE, told The New York Times. TAE has the engineering ready, he said, but has lacked sufficient capital despite raising $1.3 billion from investors.

President Trump is the largest shareholder of Trump Media, the publicly traded parent company of the social media platform Truth Social. His stake — reportedly worth more than $1 billion — is held in a trust managed by his eldest son

Trump Media’s value spiked nearly 50% following news of the merger, which would make TAE one of the first fusion companies to go public.

Washington competitors push back

TAE’s claims triggered pushback in Washington state, home to several fusion companies racing to commercialize the technology.

Helion Energy in July broke ground on what it says will be the first fusion plant to put power on the grid starting in 2028. Pragav Jain, Helion’s chief financial officer, welcomed the merger news while reasserting the company’s head start.

“This is a positive signal for the industry as a whole,” Jain said via email. “The world needs fusion and we’re seeing strong support both from customers and investors, so it’s not surprising to see deals like this.”

Everett-based Helion has raised more than $1 billion and is actively constructing Orion, its planned commercial facility in Eastern Washington. “We’re leading the way to make fusion a reality,” Jain added.

Zap Energy, a fusion company located down the road from Helion, didn’t provide an official comment on the deal when contacted by GeekWire. But spokesperson Andy Freeberg challenged the assertion that anyone has mastered fusion.

“The science has come a long way over several decades of work and is mature enough to build ventures around, that’s very exciting,” Freeberg said on LinkedIn. “But even a superficial knowledge of the state of the technology will show you it’s far from ‘solved’ and statements like this from someone who obviously knows better are completely disingenuous.”

Zap has $330 million from investors and notched scientific milestones, but has been more cautious in setting its own near-time deadlines for commercialized fusion.

Robin Langtry, co-founder and CEO of Seattle-based Avalanche Energy, which is building smaller-scale fusion devices, praised the deal.

TAE has made “some significant breakthroughs recently” that fusion proponents “should celebrate,” Langtry said via email. He added that the substantial funding needed for fusion infrastructure is tough to raise through venture capital or a traditional IPO.

“In that context a merger with a public company that in principle already has the deep pockets to raise the necessary funds makes a lot of sense,” Langtry added.

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