Proxima Fusion
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fusion energy |
| Founded | April 2023 in Munich, Germany |
| Founder | Francesco Sciortino, Lucio Milanese, Jorrit Lion, Jonathan Schilling, Martin Kubie |
| Headquarters | Munich , Germany |
Area served | Europe |
| Products | Fusion power plants based on quasi-isodynamic stellarators |
Proxima Fusion is a European enterprise specializing in fusion energy, established in 2023 in Munich, Germany. It represents the inaugural spin-off originating from the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics. The company aims to develop the initial generation of fusion power plants employing quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarators.
History
In April 2023, Proxima was launched by Francesco Sciortino, Lucio Milanese, Jorrit Lion, Jonathan Schilling, and Martin Kubie, all former researchers and engineers affiliated with the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Google-X.
The firm secured €7.5 million in pre-seed capital from investors including Plural Platform, UVC Partners, Visionaries Club, Wilbe, High Tech GründerFonds, among others. This was followed by a €20 million seed investment round led by redalpine with contributions from Bayern Kapital, DeepTech & Climate Fonds, and the Max Planck Foundation. Additionally, Proxima has obtained public funding through the European Innovation Council and the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
On June 28, 2024, Proxima entered into a collaboration with the Paul Scherrer Institute to advance high-temperature superconducting magnets tailored for its stellarator designs.
By February 2025, Proxima unveiled Stellaris, a commercial fusion power plant concept founded on high-field quasi-isodynamic stellarator technology. The Stellaris design has been likened in significance to the ARC fusion reactor concept introduced in 2014. A smaller-scale prototype targeting net positive fusion energy is slated for development by 2031.
In June 2025, Proxima Fusion revealed it had raised €130 million during its series A financing, setting a new record for investments in European nuclear fusion startups.
Technology
Proxima is advancing QI stellarators as a magnetic confinement fusion technique where toroidal currents neutralize each other, facilitating stable and continuous operation. The company leverages recent progress in stellarator optimization, computational modeling, and superconducting materials, building upon insights gained from the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator experiment conducted at the Max Planck Institute of Plasma Physics.