Avalanche Energy, a company developing modular fusion micro-reactors, has raised USD 40 million in a Series A funding round led by Lowercarbon Capital, with major participation from Founders Fund and Toyota Ventures. This brings the company’s total funding to USD 45 million.

The company intends to use the funding to continue its work to test, develop, and optimize its high-voltage orbitron prototypes as well as miniaturize critical components for delivering a stand-alone, micro fusion reactor.

The company has also achieved a record of 200 kilovolts in its second prototype micro-fusion reactor, making it the highest known operating voltage of any fusion device following the 190 kilovolts produced by the University of Wisconsin at Madison in a 2006 experiment.

Launched out of stealth in January 2022, Avalanche Energy is designing, building, and testing micro-fusion reactors. The company's orbitron design is based on specialized electrostatic ion traps operated at hundreds of kilovolts to confine fusion fuel ions in precessing elliptical orbits at extremely high velocities. Furthermore, the reactors’ small form factor enables rapid development cycles at relatively low cost. Since June 2021, Avalanche has operated two high-voltage reactor prototypes and in May 2022, was awarded a prototype contract by the US Defense Innovation Unit to demonstrate the next generation of nuclear propulsion and power generation for spacecraft.