General Fusion Receives Backing from Shopify & Amazon Founders

Today, General Fusion, a Canadian company pioneering nuclear fusion technology, announced that Thistledown Capital, an investment firm established by Shopify founder Tobias Lütke, has become a new investor in the company.

While the specific amount of Thistledown Capital’s investment remains undisclosed, this addition means General Fusion now includes the founders of two of the largest e-commerce businesses globally among its investors.

Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon, initially invested in General Fusion almost ten years ago, and the company has consistently secured funding since then. In 2019, they received $100 million in funding, contributing to a total of at least $192 million, as reported by Crunchbase, though the actual total is likely even greater.

General Fusion continued to attract investment throughout 2020 as it progressed in the development of its demonstration fusion reactor.

General Fusion’s approach centers on a technology known as magnetized target fusion (MTF), originally proposed by the U.S. Naval Research Lab and refined during the 1970s.

This process creates a magnetically contained plasma with a moderate temperature of approximately 100 eV (around 50 times the energy of visible light photons) within a flux conserver – a shell designed to maintain the magnetic field. According to a 2017 explanation by General Fusion’s chief science officer and founder, Michel Laberge, rapidly compressing the flux conserver and the magnetic field within it heats the plasma to a temperature sufficient to initiate and sustain a fusion reaction.

The system utilizes a roughly three-meter sphere containing molten lead-lithium, which is circulated to form a cavity. A pulse of magnetically confined plasma fuel is then injected into this cavity. Subsequently, pistons surrounding the sphere generate a pressure wave that compresses the plasma to the conditions necessary for fusion.

The neutrons released by the fusion reaction are absorbed by the liquid metal, and the resulting heat is used to generate electricity through a steam turbine. A heat exchanger steam turbine produces the power, and the steam is then recycled to power the pistons.

In recent years, both General Fusion and its primary North American competitor, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, have made significant progress in preparing their small-scale nuclear fusion technologies for commercial application.

Historically, fusion technologies were often described as being perpetually “10 years away,” but companies are now aiming for a four-year timeframe to introduce fusion to initial markets, and potentially wider adoption.

Commonwealth Fusion Systems is currently constructing a 10-ton magnet with a magnetic force equivalent to that of 20 MRI machines. Bob Mumgaard, CEO of Commonwealth Fusion, stated in a recent interview that, “After we get the magnet to work, we’ll be building a machine that will generate more power than it takes to run. We see that as the Kitty Hawk moment [for fusion].”

Other emerging companies, such as the United Kingdom’s Tokamak Energy, are also actively working to bring their technologies to market and meet the 2025 timeline.

Similar to General Fusion, Commonwealth Fusion Systems benefits from substantial backing, including investment from Breakthrough Energy Ventures, an investor focused on sustainable technologies supported by Bill Gates. In total, investors have committed over $200 million to the company since its launch in 2018.

As these companies move closer to commercialization, governments are establishing frameworks to facilitate the process.

Late last year, the Trump administration enacted the COVID relief and omnibus appropriations bill, which included provisions to support the advancement of fusion energy in the United States.

This new amendment directs the Department of Energy to implement a fusion energy sciences research and development program, authorizes DOE programs focused on inertial fusion energy and alternative fusion concepts, reauthorizes the INFUSE program to foster collaborations between national laboratories and fusion developers, and establishes a milestone-based development program to support companies throughout the entire process, from research and development to the construction of full-scale systems.

According to a December statement from the Fusion Industry Association, this milestone program was a key objective of their policy efforts in the U.S.

By providing $325 million in funding over five years, the U.S. government will effectively double its investment in fusion research, with matching contributions from the industry. These demonstration facilities have the potential to significantly accelerate the deployment of fusion technologies.

Thistledown Capital, founded in 2019, focuses on investing in technologies that can reduce industrial carbon emissions. The Ottawa-based firm has previously invested in CarbonCure*, a company that captures carbon dioxide and integrates it into cement.

“General Fusion has consistently demonstrated an ability to attract funding from prominent technology leaders worldwide,” stated Greg Twinney, CFO of General Fusion, in a press release. “Fusion represents a technology with the potential to safeguard our planet, and we are proud to support Thistledown Capital’s commitment to a more sustainable future.”

*This story was originally published with an inaccurate description of CarbonCure’s technology, stating it was a direct air capture variant.