Proxima Fusion
German fusion-energy company developing quasi-isodynamic stellarator power plants.
Last updated August 31, 2026
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Overview
Proxima Fusion is a privately held German fusion-energy company founded in Munich in 2023. It emerged as the first research spin-off from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics and focuses on turning quasi-isodynamic stellarator research into commercial fusion-power systems. The company was founded by a group of scientists and engineers with backgrounds at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and X Development, the former Google X research and development organization. The company’s central technical objective is to design fusion power plants based on quasi-isodynamic, or QI, stellarators. Stellarators confine extremely hot plasma with externally generated magnetic fields rather than relying primarily on a large plasma current, as tokamaks do. In the QI approach pursued by Proxima, the magnetic geometry is intended to provide improved particle confinement while avoiding the need for a net toroidal plasma current. This could support steady-state operation and reduce some of the disruption-related challenges associated with tokamak designs. Proxima’s work builds on advances in stellarator optimization, computational design, superconducting magnets, and experimental results from the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator operated by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. Proxima began with €7.5 million in pre-seed financing from investors including Plural Platform, UVC Partners, Visionaries Club, Wilbe, and High-Tech Gründerfonds. It later raised a €20 million seed round led by redalpine, with participation from Bayern Kapital, the DeepTech & Climate Fonds, and the Max Planck Foundation. The company has also received public support associated with European Innovation Council and German Federal Ministry of Education and Research programs. These financings have supported the transition from laboratory research toward engineering studies and commercial plant design. In June 2024, Proxima announced a partnership with the Paul Scherrer Institute to work on high-temperature superconducting magnets for stellarator applications. Superconducting magnet technology is strategically important because the magnets must generate strong, precisely shaped fields while limiting electrical losses and enabling a practical reactor configuration. In February 2025, the company presented Stellaris, a concept for a commercial fusion power plant. The design represents Proxima’s attempt to define a complete power-plant architecture around QI stellarator principles rather than treating stellarator research solely as an experimental physics program. Proxima has described a smaller prototype stellarator targeting net fusion energy as a planned step toward commercial deployment, with a target date of 2031 stated in the available reference material. The company subsequently announced a €130 million Series A financing round in June 2025 and a further €15 million extension in September 2025. The available material also records a July 2026 investment round involving Alphabet, the parent company of Google; details of that transaction are not provided here. Proxima’s positioning combines deep-tech research commercialization with climate and energy infrastructure. It does not primarily sell consumer products or currently operate a commercial electricity-generation business. Its principal outputs are reactor concepts, engineering designs, magnet-development work, and prototype fusion systems. The company’s long-term proposition is that stellarators could provide a continuously operating fusion-power platform with a potentially attractive route to reliable low-carbon electricity, provided that plasma performance, materials, superconducting magnets, manufacturing, maintenance, and economics can all be demonstrated at reactor scale.
History
Proxima Fusion was established in April 2023 in Munich, Germany, by Francesco Sciortino, Lucio Milanese, Jorrit Lion, Jonathan Schilling, and Martin Kubie. The founders brought experience from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and X Development. The company was notable as the first research spin-off from the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, linking a commercial venture directly to one of Europe’s leading stellarator-research institutions. Its technical program is based on quasi-isodynamic stellarators. A stellarator confines plasma using complex three-dimensional magnetic fields generated by external coils. Unlike a conventional tokamak, it is not dependent on maintaining a large toroidal plasma current for confinement. Proxima’s QI approach seeks to combine the steady-state potential of stellarators with improved plasma confinement and optimized magnetic geometry. The company’s work draws on computational optimization and the experimental knowledge generated by Wendelstein 7-X, the large stellarator experiment operated by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics. Proxima’s initial financing consisted of a €7.5 million pre-seed round backed by Plural Platform, UVC Partners, Visionaries Club, Wilbe, High-Tech Gründerfonds, and other investors. A subsequent €20 million seed round was led by redalpine and included Bayern Kapital, the DeepTech & Climate Fonds, and the Max Planck Foundation. In addition to private capital, the company has received public funding associated with the European Innovation Council and Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research. These funds support the substantial computational, scientific, and engineering work required to move from a stellarator concept to a power-plant design. On 28 June 2024, Proxima announced a partnership with the Paul Scherrer Institute focused on high-temperature superconducting magnets. The collaboration addressed a central engineering challenge for future stellarators: producing strong, accurately shaped magnetic fields in a system that can be manufactured, cooled, maintained, and integrated with a complete power plant. In February 2025, Proxima presented Stellaris, its concept for a commercial fusion power plant. The announcement marked a shift from describing the company solely as a fusion research spin-off to presenting an integrated commercial architecture. The concept attracted comparisons with the influence of the ARC tokamak concept published in the United States in 2014, although the two approaches use different magnetic-confinement configurations. Proxima has also described a smaller prototype stellarator intended to target net fusion energy, with 2031 given as a planned date in the available reference material. The company announced a €130 million Series A round in June 2025 and a €15 million extension in September of the same year. The available material additionally records a July 2026 investment round involving Alphabet, but does not provide detailed valuation, ownership, or investment terms. Proxima remains an active private fusion-energy developer rather than an operating utility. Its long-term success depends on demonstrating reactor-relevant plasma performance, reliable superconducting magnets, suitable materials, maintainable plant architecture, and competitive economics. Its present business scope is therefore centered on research commercialization, prototype development, and engineering design for future fusion plants.
- 2026
Alphabet investment participation
[1]The available reference material identifies Alphabet as a participant in a July 2026 investment round, without giving transaction terms.
- 2025
Stellaris concept announced
[1]The company presented Stellaris, a concept for a commercial quasi-isodynamic stellarator fusion power plant.
- 2025
Series A financing
[1]Proxima announced a €130 million Series A round.
- 2025
Series A extension
[1]The company announced a €15 million extension to its Series A financing.
- 2024
Paul Scherrer Institute collaboration
[1]Proxima announced work with the Paul Scherrer Institute on high-temperature superconducting magnets for stellarator applications.
- 2023
Company founded in Munich
[1]Proxima Fusion was founded in April 2023 by scientists and engineers associated with the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, MIT, and X Development.
- 2023
Pre-seed financing
[1]The company raised €7.5 million in pre-seed funding from several venture and deep-tech investors.
Seed financing
[1]Proxima raised a €20 million seed round led by redalpine, with participation from Bayern Kapital, the DeepTech & Climate Fonds, and the Max Planck Foundation.
Products and positioning
Deep-tech fusion-energy company focused on commercializing quasi-isodynamic stellarators as a route to continuous, low-carbon power generation.
Fusion power-plant concept · 2025
Stellaris
Stellaris is Proxima Fusion’s commercial power-plant concept based on quasi-isodynamic stellarator technology. It represents an integrated attempt to translate stellarator physics into a future electricity-generating facility, including the magnetic-confinement architecture and associated engineering systems. Stellaris is a design concept rather than a commercially operating power plant.
Fusion-energy prototype
Prototype stellarator
Proxima has planned a smaller prototype stellarator intended to demonstrate net fusion energy as an intermediate step toward a commercial plant. The available reference material gives 2031 as a target date. Its purpose is to test the company’s quasi-isodynamic approach and provide engineering and plasma-performance evidence before a full-scale power-plant deployment.
Fusion-magnet technology · 2024
High-temperature superconducting magnet systems
Proxima is developing high-temperature superconducting magnet technology for stellarators in collaboration with the Paul Scherrer Institute. Such magnets are intended to generate and control the complex magnetic fields required for plasma confinement while reducing resistive electrical losses. The work is a technology-development program rather than a separately marketed product.
Brand decisions
2025
Introduce the Stellaris commercial plant conceptProduct launchBackground
Proxima needed to express how its quasi-isodynamic stellarator research could become a complete commercial fusion-power system.
Action taken
The company presented Stellaris as a commercial fusion power-plant concept.
Aftermath
The announcement gave Proxima a defined commercial design direction and increased visibility for the QI stellarator approach. A plant has not yet entered commercial operation.
2024
Collaborate on high-temperature superconducting magnetsStrategyBackground
Future stellarator power plants require strong, precisely controlled, and economically practical superconducting magnets.
Action taken
Proxima partnered with the Paul Scherrer Institute to develop high-temperature superconducting magnets for stellarator applications.
Aftermath
The partnership expanded Proxima’s technology program beyond plasma configuration and into a critical reactor-engineering subsystem.
Recent events
Proxima Fusion plans to build a €140 million HTS tape factory[2]
Reported:
Proxima Fusion said Wednesday it plans to build a €140 million ($162.6 million) factory to produce fusion-grade high-temperature superconducting (HTS) tape, a key component for its reactor design.
Weekdays and relative dates follow the original report; their exact calendar dates have not been verified.
Sources2 sources
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