Inertia raises $450 million to make fusion energy practical
Inertia Enterprises, a California startup founded recently, just landed $450 million in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with support from big names like GV and Threshold Ventures.
The cash will help them build their Thunderwall laser system and start mass-producing fuel targets for a pilot fusion plant, and the company intends to start construction on a grid-scale power plant in 2030.
They're focused on inertial confinement fusion
They're working on commercializing inertial confinement fusion—a tech proven at Lawrence Livermore's National Ignition Facility (NIF), the only place so far to hit scientific breakeven.
Their design uses 1,000 lasers firing rapid bursts at tiny fuel pellets that cost less than $1 each—scaling up what NIF did but making it way more practical for real-world energy needs.
The team and their vision for the future
The team includes Jeff Lawson (ex-Twilio CEO), Annie Kritcher (who led experiments at NIF), and Stanford professor Mike Dunne.
With over $10 billion already invested in the fusion space, Inertia hopes their affordable approach could finally make clean fusion energy a reality for everyone.