Alumni of Google DeepMind are developing technologies to speed up grid fusion power.
Alumni of Google DeepMind are making tools to speed up fusion power for the grid.
Start-up founders don't always have to look hard for the right idea. Sometimes it just comes to them. Federico Felici and Jonas Buchli are two lucky people.
Fusion companies kept telling them the same thing: "We would like to buy many of the parts to make our control system, but there isn't really anyone providing them, and especially there isn't anyone who speaks the language of fusion." Felici told TechCrunch, "We would like to buy many of the parts to make our control system, but there isn't really anyone providing them."
It took the two founders years of work to come up with new ways to control experimental fusion devices. He said, "We spent a lot of time solving the exact problems that our customers need to solve." "It seemed like the right time."
This year, Felici and Buchli started Fusionality in Lausanne to take advantage of the chance. They quickly raised a pre-seed round of $3.7 million (CHF 3 million) from Founderful and Playfair. Felici is the CEO of the company, and Buchli is its CTO.
Fusionality is part of an emerging supply chain that has popped up to serve the burgeoning fusion power industry. Some startups, like Kyoto Fusioneering, are developing components that will help fusion startups turn their engineering breakthroughs into electricity for the grid, while others are existing manufacturers with the skills required to turn out high-precision parts.
Yet few companies specialize in the hardware and software needed to control the fusion reactors themselves. “Across the industry, many companies make their own control systems from scratch,” Felici said. “But actually, 80% of each company’s control system is really exactly the same.”
Fusion power plants produce electricity by harnessing the energy released when two atoms fuse, which is more likely to occur in a superheated plasma. But plasmas are fickle, and keeping the proper temperature, shape, and fuel level requires split-second decision-making.
Fusion companies kept telling them the same thing: "We would like to buy many of the parts to make our control system, but there isn't really anyone providing them, and especially there isn't anyone who speaks the language of fusion." Felici told TechCrunch, "We would like to buy many of the parts to make our control system, but there isn't really anyone providing them."
It took the two founders years of work to come up with new ways to control experimental fusion devices. He said, "We spent a lot of time solving the exact problems that our customers need to solve." "It seemed like the right time."
This year, Felici and Buchli started Fusionality in Lausanne to take advantage of the chance. They quickly raised a pre-seed round of $3.7 million (CHF 3 million) from Founderful and Playfair. Felici is the CEO of the company, and Buchli is its CTO.
Fusionality is part of an emerging supply chain that has popped up to serve the burgeoning fusion power industry. Some startups, like Kyoto Fusioneering, are developing components that will help fusion startups turn their engineering breakthroughs into electricity for the grid, while others are existing manufacturers with the skills required to turn out high-precision parts.
Yet few companies specialize in the hardware and software needed to control the fusion reactors themselves. “Across the industry, many companies make their own control systems from scratch,” Felici said. “But actually, 80% of each company’s control system is really exactly the same.”
Fusion power plants produce electricity by harnessing the energy released when two atoms fuse, which is more likely to occur in a superheated plasma. But plasmas are fickle, and keeping the proper temperature, shape, and fuel level requires split-second decision-making.
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