German fusion startup Proxima Fusion has secured €411 million ($470 million) in fresh funding, attracting backing from Google as it accelerates its mission to build Europe’s first commercial fusion power plant.
The round values the Munich-based company at €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion), cementing its position as the most heavily funded fusion startup in Europe and one of the continent’s leading deep-tech ventures.
The financing was led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with strategic participation from Google and German energy giant RWE. Existing backers, including Plural, UVC Partners, Balderton Capital and Cherry Ventures doubled down on the company, joined by KfW Capital, SPRIND and Burda Principal Investments.
Google’s investment underscores growing interest among major technology companies in fusion energy as a potential long-term source of abundant, carbon-free baseload power capable of supporting future AI and data infrastructure demand.
Fusion, often described as the “holy grail” of clean energy, generates power by fusing light atomic nuclei, replicating the process that powers the sun. While the technology promises virtually limitless clean energy, no company has yet commercialized fusion at scale.
Proxima is betting on stellarator technology, a fusion reactor design long considered one of the most promising pathways to commercial deployment. The company plans to build Alpha, a net-energy fusion demonstrator near Munich, in the early 2030s before launching Stellaris, its first commercial fusion power plant later in the decade.
“Europe is racing with the United States and China to get to the first fusion power plant. Proxima’s financing demonstrates that Europe can not only invent breakthrough technologies, but also build globally competitive companies around them.”
The new capital will be used to complete the company’s Stellarator Model Coil program, expand production of high-temperature superconducting magnets and cables, and strengthen the engineering and manufacturing capabilities needed to industrialize stellarator systems.
The startup is also ramping up hiring across engineering, manufacturing, and operations as it pursues a vertically integrated approach to fusion development. The investment comes as Europe seeks to establish a leadership position in the global fusion race, where startups and governments in the U.S., China and the U.K. are pouring billions into next-generation energy technologies.
Earlier this year, RWE partnered with Proxima, the Free State of Bavaria, and the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics to explore developing a future stellarator fusion plant at the site of the former Gundremmingen nuclear power station in Bavaria.
Founded as a spinout of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Proxima has now raised more than €650 million in total funding, including €95 million in public grants, in less than three years, making it one of Europe’s fastest-scaling deep-tech companies.
