SAN
FRANCISCO, July 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Marathon
Fusion, a startup developing fuel processing technology for the
fusion industry, announced today a fundraise led by 1517 Fund and
Anglo American, with participation
from Übermorgen Ventures, Shared Future Fund, Malcolm Handley and other leading investors.
Alongside a CREATE award from the Department of Energy's ARPA-E,
these investments bring Marathon Fusion's total funding to
$6.9M.
Fusion can play a critical role in the energy transformation by
providing clean, affordable and firm power at terawatt scale. But
to fulfill that vision, the industry needs high-throughput
processing of fusion fuel to meet the demands of commercial power
plants.
Since its founding in 2023, Marathon Fusion has been dedicated
to making improvements to fuel processing efficiency. Its
technology allows fusion power plants to operate with less tritium
inventory, enabling smaller facilities and improved operational
expenses.
Marathon Fusion was supported early on by the Breakthrough
Energy Fellows program, which funds promising, early-stage ideas
and technologies in the fight against climate change. By providing
capital, mentorship, education, and access to the Breakthrough
Energy network, the program helps bridge the gap from lab to
market.
Now working to commercialize this technology to enable rapid,
efficient and high-throughput processing of fusion fuel, Marathon
aims to reduce onsite tritium inventories and improve plant
economics, helping to ensure that fusion has a path to scale to its
full potential.
The new funding will allow Marathon Fusion to accelerate the
development and deployment of its fuel processing technology in
fusion power plants. The company has signed Letters of Intent
with Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Helion Energy, two leading
fusion startups aiming for the near-term deployment of fusion power
plants.
"Part of the success of the ARC program will lie with industrial
innovators to develop systems solving technical challenges inherent
to fusion and enabling fusion power plants to be economically
viable," said Brandon Sorbom, Chief
Science Officer, and Co-founder, Commonwealth Fusion Systems. "We
see Marathon's technology as one of these key enablers. By
facilitating continuous operation for fusion devices, efficient
fuel systems can provide three major benefits: a lower tritium
inventory, cost savings, and an overall simplification of the power
plant."
"Fusion fuel is immensely valuable but also highly scarce.
Fusion power plants will require a closed fuel cycle, making it
crucial to recycle fuel from exhaust back into injection systems as
quickly as possible," said Malcolm
Handley, founder of Strong Atomics. "Fuel processing is one
of a few critical engineering problems that really enable the
fusion ecosystem as a whole, and Marathon is leading the charge
here."
"Advances in energy creation are about abundance: by using more
energy, we can do more as a civilization. Fusion is a clean,
incredibly dense source of energy, and crucially, provides a viable
replacement for always-on baseload power plants," said Danielle Strachman - founder and General Partner
at 1517 Fund. "Marathon Fusion's technology will enable the growth
of the fusion industry beyond breakeven, helping usher in
large-scale deployment and a new era of energy creation."
Marathon Fusion is currently hiring for roles in
San Francisco. To learn more,
visit www.marathonfusion.com.
About Marathon Fusion
Marathon Fusion began operations
in 2023 to develop high-efficiency fuel systems to accelerate the
deployment and improve the economics of fusion power plants.
Marathon's technology is designed to enable the rapid, continuous,
and high-throughput recycling of fusion fuel. Marathon is supported
by leading institutions including the Department of Energy's
ARPA-E, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, 1517 Fund, Übermorgen
Ventures, Anglo American Decarbonization Ventures, Shared Future
Fund, and Malcolm Handley. For more
information, visit www.marathonfusion.com.
About Breakthrough Energy Fellows
The Breakthrough
Energy Fellows program is designed to tackle early-stage barriers
to climate technology innovation. By providing scientists,
innovators, and entrepreneurs with research funding and hands-on
support, the program ensures projects have the resources they need
to advance to the next stages of development.
For information specific to Breakthrough Energy's Fellows
program, please
visit www.breakthroughenergy.org/our-work/fellows/
CONTACT: Kyle Schiller; kyle@marathonfusion.com; +1 503 354
9321
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SOURCE Marathon Fusion, Inc.