Zap Energy claims progress on unconventional nuclear fusion technique

There’s fresh fusion funding afoot.

Zap Energy, a Seattle-based nuclear-fusion startup, announced a $160 million Series C last week, bringing its funding total to just over $200 million since its founding in 2017.

Why it matters: Alongside the news of new capital, the company’s founders told the NYT that they are within a year of proving that their unconventional, lower-cost approach to nuclear fusion can do what no fusion system has ever done: produce more electricity than it uses. Many energy experts are skeptical that we’ll see at-scale nuclear fusion any time soon, but if scientists manage to crack the code, we’d effectively have limitless clean energy.

• Zap is pursuing an approach called a “Z-pinch,” which differs from the Tokamak-based technique favored by its quickly expanding group of competitors.
• There are at least 35 different nuclear-fusion companies now, and investment in the space surged last year.

The startup’s approach to fusion has been cast aside by most other researchers because of its instability, but if it pans out, the company claims its tech will be “orders of magnitude less expensive than competing systems,” per the NYT.

Zap’s claim that it will demonstrate net electricity within one year is more aggressive than some of its better-capitalized, Tokamak-touting peers. Helion Energy, which raised a $500 million Series C last fall, aims to demonstrate net electricity by 2024. CFS, which raised a record-smashing $1.8 billion last December, is eyeing 2025.

Big picture: Although scientific and financial milestones have been crossed in the last year, there’s no guarantee that nuclear fusion will work at a large scale any time soon. Many energy experts argue it will take decades for fusion to power society—if ever.