Proxima Fusion has secured €411 million ($468 million) in new funding, valuing the European fusion energy company at €2.4 billion ($2.7 billion) and making it the continent’s best-funded fusion venture.

The round was led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with strategic investments from RWE and Google.

The financing will support the development of Alpha, Proxima’s net-energy stellarator fusion demonstrator near Munich, Germany, which aims to validate technologies needed for future commercial fusion power plants.

The project is being developed with the support of Bavaria, the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, and RWE.

The investment marks the largest private funding round in European fusion history and highlights growing interest in fusion as a potential source of carbon-free energy and improved energy security.

Proxima has raised more than €650 million ($740 million) in under three years, including public grants.

The company will use the latest funding to advance stellarator technology, expand high-temperature superconducting cable and magnet production, and strengthen engineering and manufacturing capabilities.

Proxima also plans to increase hiring across technical and operational teams as it moves toward commercial fusion development.

“Europe is racing with the United States and China to get to the first fusion power plant. Proxima’s financing demonstrates that Europe can not only invent breakthrough technologies, but also build globally competitive companies around them. Investors recognise both the urgency and the opportunity of what we're doing and are backing us to develop a generational energy technology company," said Dr Francesco Sciortino, Co-Founder and CEO of Proxima Fusion. -OGN/TradeArabia News Service