Focused Energy

Focused Energy is a German-American fusion power startup spun off from the Technical University of Darmstadt. Its technology combines direct-drive laser fuel compression with proton fast ignition to trigger fusion within its power plants and thereby provide energy output for electricity, industrial/district heat, and hydrogen. Aside from the development of the technology, Focused Energy will provide design, build, operating services and licensing of its fusion technology and power plants.

The company aims to build a high-repetition laser test facility (consisting of a target fabrication facility and target inserter), which will be used to test new hardware, and prototype systems of foundational technologies to lay the groundwork for constructing a high-gain ignition demonstration facility in the future. This is to be followed by a power plant prototype, which is expected to be built at the beginning of the next decade. By leveraging three decades worth of fusion research, Focused Energy planned to generate electricity by the mid-2030s from the fusion of hydrogen into helium.

Key customers and partnerships

Focused Energy has formed several industrial partnerships with material suppliers including Schott, Zeiss, Merck, and Heraeus to aid in the buildout of its pilot plant. In August 2023, the company signed a long-term strategic collaboration with Oxford Sigma, a fusion technology company, to accelerate the design and development of its inertial-confinement fusion power station device. In November 2023, Focused Energy formed a strategic partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) to explore isochoric compression target designs for inertial fusion energy.

Funding and financials

Focused Energy’s latest funding round was in June 2023, when it raised an additional USD 11 million in Series A funding. This brought the total Series A funding round to USD 82 million. The company intended to use the funds to further research and commercialize nuclear fusion as a safe, climate-neutral, and inexhaustible source of energy.