The company announced the extension of its Series B funding round by EUR50 million (USD54 million) to EUR113 million, with funding from EQT Ventures, Siemens Energy and European Innovation Council Fund. Marvel Fusion says that brings total funding to EUR385 million, including EUR170 million from private investment, including existing investors Tengelmann Ventures and Bayern Kapital.
Founder and CEO Moritz von der Linden said: "Welcoming the EIC Fund, EQT Ventures and Siemens Energy to our shareholder board is fantastic; it gives us the financial and operational backing for executing the required milestones towards building the world’s first fusion prototype."
Svetoslava Georgieva, Chair of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Fund Board, added: "The European Innovation Council’s Fund participation underscores a significant advance, demonstrating the EIC commitment to high-impact innovation by private fusion companies and in line with fusion technology's position as a strategic technology for Europe."
Marvel Fusion is currently in the process of building two laser prototypes - it is building a USD150 million facility with Colorado State University - and says it is "actively forging industrial partnerships for the ramp-up of laser production, which can meet the high-gain requirement needed to offer sufficient energy at competitive prices".
It said it was "progressing its industrial partnership with Siemens Energy by jointly developing a conceptual design of a fully integrated fusion power plant". Juha Pankakoski, Executive Vice President Global Functions at Siemens Energy, said: "We have long been involved with Marvel Fusion, contributing our expertise and we look forward to continuing our joint work. We hope this important technology becomes a reality, enabling reliable energy. When that day arrives, Siemens Energy is committed to being at the forefront."
In Marvel's approach to fusion, to initiate the fusion process, an ultrashort laser pulse interacts with small fuel pellets in a target structure with high intensity. The rapid deposition of laser energy triggers the fusion of the fuel's nuclei before the target structure can disassemble. To achieve sufficient scale for commercial operation, fuel pellets need to be irradiated and ignited several times per second.
An injector pushes a new pellet into the target chamber, where it is hit by the incoming laser pulse and releases energy during the fusion process. Supplementary systems convert the released energy into electricity. By adjusting the rate of pellet injections and corresponding laser pulses per second, Marvel's fusion power plant can adjust the overall energy output to market demand.
Germany, which has closed all its nuclear power plants, has been increasing its investment in nuclear fusion, with the aim of building a first nuclear fusion power plant in the country by 2040.
