With a new $100M raise, Princeton’s Thea Energy is now a top-funded fusion startup
With a new $100M raise, Princeton’s Thea Energy is now a top-funded fusion startup
普林斯顿核聚变初创公司 Thea Energy 完成 1 亿美元融资，跻身行业融资额前列
Thea Energy has raised an oversubscribed $100 million Series B led by U.S. Innovative Technology Fund, the fusion startup told TechCrunch. The sum places the company among the better-funded fusion startups, giving it an improved chance at achieving a commercial reactor. 核聚变初创公司 Thea Energy 向 TechCrunch 透露，公司已完成超额认购的 1 亿美元 B 轮融资，由 U.S. Innovative Technology Fund 领投。这笔资金使该公司跻身融资额最高的核聚变初创公司之列，为其实现商业化反应堆目标提供了更有利的条件。
The new funding will help Thea expand manufacturing for its uniquely designed smaller magnets and begin construction of Eos, its “power plant relevant” demonstration device, starting next year. Thea previously closed a $20 million Series A in early 2024. The new round brings total private investment to $130 million, the startup told TechCrunch. 这笔新资金将帮助 Thea 扩大其独特设计的小型磁体生产规模，并从明年开始建造其“电厂级”演示装置 Eos。Thea 此前于 2024 年初完成了 2000 万美元的 A 轮融资。据该公司向 TechCrunch 透露，本轮融资使其私人投资总额达到 1.3 亿美元。
Magnets are at the core of many fusion power plant designs — they are what keeps the superheated matter called plasma compressed and burning hot enough to fuse atoms, which then release heat and energy. But Thea’s magnets are different: Each rectangular magnet can be tuned to create the shape of the reactor’s overall magnetic field. Thea likens these to pixels in a computer monitor, which collectively follow software’s instructions to create the text and images the monitor displays. 磁体是许多核聚变电厂设计的核心——它们负责将被称为等离子体的超高温物质压缩并保持在足够高的温度，以促使原子发生聚变，从而释放热量和能量。但 Thea 的磁体与众不同：每个矩形磁体都可以进行调节，以构建反应堆整体磁场的形状。Thea 将其比作电脑显示器上的像素，这些像素共同遵循软件指令，呈现出显示器上的文字和图像。
For Thea, that flexibility will be important. The type of reactor it’s designing is known as a stellarator. Stellarators are capable of keeping plasma in very stable configurations, but to do so, they have to twist and bend to accommodate the plasma. That’s in contrast to tokamaks, another leading magnetic design, which uses more brute force to keep plasma confined. 对于 Thea 而言，这种灵活性至关重要。该公司设计的反应堆类型被称为仿星器（stellarator）。仿星器能够将等离子体保持在非常稳定的状态，但为了做到这一点，它们必须进行扭曲和弯曲以适应等离子体。这与另一种主流磁约束设计——托卡马克（tokamak）形成对比，后者使用更“暴力”的方式来约束等离子体。
But the irregular shape of a stellarator drives up complexity and cost for magnet manufacturing. Thea is betting that by shrouding its reactor core in dozens of regular magnets, it can use software to control the smaller, turnable magnets and create a stellarator-shaped magnetic field inside a much simpler physical structure. The software should also help with assembling the reactor. Thea has purposefully installed test magnets out of alignment, but the software was able to compensate. 然而，仿星器不规则的形状增加了磁体制造的复杂性和成本。Thea 的策略是，通过在反应堆核心周围布置数十个规则磁体，利用软件控制这些小型、可调节的磁体，从而在一个物理结构简单得多的装置内创造出仿星器形状的磁场。该软件还有助于反应堆的组装。Thea 曾特意将测试磁体安装在非对齐位置，但软件成功进行了补偿。
Thea hopes to complete its Eos demonstration reactor in 2030 with a commercial version, known as Helios, coming online in 2034. The timing brings it in line with competitors like Commonwealth Fusion Systems, which has said it hopes to bring its Arc reactor reactor online in Virginia in the early 2030s. Thea 希望在 2030 年完成其 Eos 演示反应堆，并于 2034 年推出名为 Helios 的商业版本。这一时间表使其与竞争对手（如 Commonwealth Fusion Systems）保持一致，后者曾表示希望在 21 世纪 30 年代初在弗吉尼亚州启动其 Arc 反应堆。
If Thea’s pixel-inspired magnets work, the company could enjoy a manufacturing advantage. The startup has built dozens of iterations of its full-scale magnets in its lab in Jersey City. Meanwhile, other fusion startups pursuing magnetic confinement have had to build massive assembly halls to make reactor-scale magnets. 如果 Thea 这种“像素化”磁体方案奏效，该公司将获得制造优势。这家初创公司已在其泽西城的实验室中制造了数十个全尺寸磁体迭代版本。与此同时，其他追求磁约束的核聚变初创公司则不得不建造巨大的装配车间来制造反应堆规模的磁体。
The small magnets don’t do all the lifting, though. Thea uses 12 magnets of four different shapes outside the planar coils to handle most of the plasma confinement. The 300-plus smaller magnets serve to fine-tune the plasma. Being reliant on larger magnets erodes the company’s manufacturing advantage to some extent. Still, any simplification of a fusion reactor — which are already some of the most complex devices ever made by humans — will help pave the road to fusion power. An extra $100 million doesn’t hurt, either. 不过，这些小型磁体并非承担所有工作。Thea 在平面线圈外使用了 12 个四种不同形状的磁体来处理大部分等离子体约束工作，而 300 多个小型磁体则用于对等离子体进行微调。对大型磁体的依赖在一定程度上削弱了该公司的制造优势。尽管如此，任何对核聚变反应堆（这已经是人类制造的最复杂设备之一）的简化，都将有助于铺平通往核聚变能源的道路。当然，额外获得的 1 亿美元融资也大有裨益。
Other investors who participated in the round include General Innovation Capital Partners, Linse Capital, Calm Ventures, Climate Capital, Divergent Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures, Gaingels, Idemitsu Kosan, Overlay Capital, Timescale Ventures, and What If Ventures. 参与本轮融资的其他投资者包括 General Innovation Capital Partners、Linse Capital、Calm Ventures、Climate Capital、Divergent Capital、Emerald Technology Ventures、Gaingels、出光兴产（Idemitsu Kosan）、Overlay Capital、Timescale Ventures 和 What If Ventures。