Helion, the Sam Altman-backed fusion startup, raises $465M to build a power plant for Microsoft
Helion, the Sam Altman-backed fusion startup, raises $465M to build a power plant for Microsoft
Helion, the fusion startup backed by Sam Altman, announced on Thursday that it had raised $465 million in a new funding round that values the company at $15.5 billion. The cash infusion lands as Helion is racing to complete Orion, its first power plant. The startup has set an aggressive timeline to deploy fusion power to the grid, as early as 2028 if it can deliver on the terms of its deal with Microsoft. The startup last raised $425 million in January 2025. Altogether, Helion said it has raised $1.5 billion.
由山姆·奥特曼（Sam Altman）支持的核聚变初创公司 Helion 周四宣布，公司在新一轮融资中筹集了 4.65 亿美元，估值达到 155 亿美元。这笔资金注入正值 Helion 加紧建设其首座发电厂“猎户座”（Orion）之际。该公司设定了激进的时间表，如果能履行与微软达成的协议条款，最早将于 2028 年将核聚变电力并入电网。该公司上一次融资是在 2025 年 1 月，筹集了 4.25 亿美元。Helion 表示，公司累计融资额已达 15 亿美元。
The new round, a Series G, was led by Thrive Capital with a long list of participants, including new investors Alta Park Capital, Anti Fund, BoxGroup, Lux Capital, Peak XV Partners, and Bill Ford, along with existing investors, which include Capricorn Technology Impact Funds, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Mithril Capital, Dustin Moskovitz through Good Ventures Foundation, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and a university endowment fund.
本轮 G 轮融资由 Thrive Capital 领投，参与者众多，包括新投资者 Alta Park Capital、Anti Fund、BoxGroup、Lux Capital、Peak XV Partners 和 Bill Ford，以及现有投资者，包括 Capricorn Technology Impact Funds、Lightspeed Venture Partners、Mithril Capital、通过 Good Ventures Foundation 投资的达斯汀·莫斯科维茨（Dustin Moskovitz）、软银愿景基金 2 期（SoftBank Vision Fund 2）以及一家大学捐赠基金。
Helion’s approach to fusion power differs from many of its peers. Some use magnets to contain the superheated plasma required for fusion conditions, while others use lasers to compress fusion fuel until it reacts. In both cases, the majority of startups plan to use steam turbines to transform the intense heat into electricity. But Helion, which uses magnets to compress the fuel, intends to harvest electricity straight from the magnets themselves. When fusion occurs in the plasma inside the reactor, it expands, pushing against the magnetic fields. That force can be drawn off the magnets as electricity, similar to how an electric vehicle can reverse its motors to provide braking force and recharge the battery.
Helion 的核聚变技术路径与许多同行不同。一些公司使用磁铁来约束核聚变所需的超高温等离子体，而另一些公司则使用激光压缩核聚变燃料直至其发生反应。在这两种情况下，大多数初创公司都计划使用蒸汽轮机将产生的巨大热量转化为电能。但 Helion 使用磁铁来压缩燃料，并打算直接从磁铁本身获取电力。当反应堆内的等离子体发生核聚变时，它会膨胀并推挤磁场。这种力可以作为电能从磁铁中提取出来，类似于电动汽车通过反转电机提供制动力并为电池充电。
Such a configuration would dramatically improve the efficiency of a fusion power plant. But some fusion experts are skeptical it could work. That’s in part because Helion, unlike many of its competitors, doesn’t frequently publish in peer-reviewed journals, so physicists haven’t been able to poke at the theoretical underpinnings. David Kirtley, Helion’s CEO, argues that eventual results from the company’s fusion devices should be sufficient. “We don’t want to theorize about fusion,” he told me last year. “We just want to go build it.”
这种配置将极大地提高核聚变发电厂的效率。但一些核聚变专家对其可行性持怀疑态度。部分原因是 Helion 与许多竞争对手不同，它不经常在同行评审期刊上发表论文，因此物理学家无法对其理论基础进行深入探讨。Helion 首席执行官大卫·柯特利（David Kirtley）认为，公司核聚变设备最终的成果就足以证明一切。“我们不想对核聚变进行理论探讨，”他去年告诉我，“我们只想把它造出来。”
Helion isn’t alone in attracting fresh funding. The fusion sector has become an investor darling in recent months. Focused Energy and Thea Energy both announced new rounds last week: Focused for $240 million, Thea for $100 million. In February, Inertia Energy emerged from stealth with a $450 million Series A, and the month before, Type One Energy said it was in the process of raising $250 million for a Series B.
并非只有 Helion 在吸引新资金。近几个月来，核聚变领域已成为投资者的宠儿。Focused Energy 和 Thea Energy 上周都宣布了新一轮融资：Focused 筹集了 2.4 亿美元，Thea 筹集了 1 亿美元。2 月份，Inertia Energy 结束隐身状态，完成了 4.5 亿美元的 A 轮融资；而在上个月，Type One Energy 表示正在筹集 2.5 亿美元的 B 轮融资。
The investments have poured in despite fusion’s lengthy timeline. Though several companies have made progress in recent months on milestones they say pave the way to a viable power plant, most predict they won’t begin operating their first commercial-scale power plant until the middle of the next decade at the earliest. Part of the appeal is fusion’s potential to deliver nearly limitless amounts of always-on energy using little more than seawater. For AI-focused tech companies, that’s an attractive proposition. But it also has the potential to disrupt other trillion-dollar energy markets if fusion power companies can aggressively drive costs down. The timelines might be a bit longer than VCs are used to, but the potential payoff could be a lot bigger.
尽管核聚变项目周期漫长，但投资依然源源不断。虽然几家公司近几个月在实现里程碑方面取得了进展，并称这些进展为建设可行的发电厂铺平了道路，但大多数公司预测，最早也要到下一个十年中期才能开始运营其首座商业规模的发电厂。核聚变的吸引力部分在于它有潜力利用海水提供近乎无限的持续能源。对于专注于人工智能的科技公司来说，这是一个极具吸引力的提议。但如果核聚变公司能够积极降低成本，它也有潜力颠覆其他万亿美元级的能源市场。虽然时间表可能比风投习惯的要长一些，但潜在的回报可能会大得多。