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Struggling fusion power company General Fusion gets $22M lifeline from investors

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Struggling fusion power company General Fusion gets $22M lifeline from investors Tim De Chant AM PDT · August 21, 2025 General Fusion, a Canadian nuclear fusion energy startup, announced today that it had been thrown a lifeline in the form of $22 million in fresh funding.

The company had laid off at least 25% of its employees in May in a bid to shore up its stretched finances. At the same time, CEO Greg Twinney wrote an open letter pleading for funding. The additional cash will give General Fusion some breathing room, though not much.

A subset of General Fusion’s existing investors ultimately ponied up for what the Globe and Mail reports was a “pay to play” round — a financing structure where existing investors must participate to maintain their ownership stakes — that included Chrysalix Venture Capital, Gaingels, Hatch, MILFAM, JIMCO, Penderfund, Presight Capital, Segra Capital Management, and Thistledown Capital. Penderfund and Segra gained board seats as part of the deal.

Though the company described the round as “oversubscribed,” the $22 million falls far short of the $125 million that the company was reportedly seeking. Adam Rodman, chief investment officer at Segra Capital, told the Globe and Mail that the $22 million was “the least amount of capital possible” to help the company hit the next scientific milestone.

General Fusion was founded in 2002 and before this round had raised $440 million, according to PitchBook.

Just months before making its financial woes public, General Fusion had activated its latest device, Lawson Machine 26 (LM26), a half-scale prototype of a commercial-scale reactor. The new funding will give the company more time to run LM26 as it attempts to hit key scientific milestones.

General Fusion is pursuing what’s known as magnetized target fusion. Inside its reactor, electricity flows through deuterium-tritium fuel — heavy hydrogen isotopes — generating a magnetic field to contain the plasma. That plasma is then compressed

Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They’re here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don’t miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025 REGISTER NOW In March, when it commissioned LM26, General Fusion said it expected the device to hit scientific breakeven in 2026. Scientific breakeven is a technical term in fusion circles that means the amount of energy generated

Today, General Fusion said it is still pursuing scientific breakeven, though it didn’t provide a timeline. The company also listed two intermediary goals: heating plasmas to 10 million degrees C and 100 million degrees C.

Given the limited size of the fresh funding, it seems likely that General Fusion will shoot for the most achievable milestones to convince investors to cut a new round of checks. The company may have bought itself a few precious months, but unless it can deliver promising results, it may find itself in back in the same tight spot it was in during May.

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Tim De Chant Senior

Tim De Chant is a senior climate

De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College.

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