A Washington-based company called Helion just raised $465 million in an effort to commercialize nuclear fusion energy. With this new investment, Helion’s value jumped to a staggering $15.5 billion. In total, the company has now raised $1.5 billion.

Thrive Capital led the funding round. Other investors include BoxGroup, Lux Capital, SoftBank Vision Fund 2, and Ford Motor Company Executive Chairman Bill Ford.

Accelerating Nuclear Fusion

Helion plans to use the money to boost its U.S. manufacturing and build its first actual fusion power plant, called Orion, which is currently under construction in Malaga, Washington.

Its 7th-generation prototype, named Polaris, recently became the first privately funded fusion machine to run on deuterium-tritium fuel. Additionally, it broke records by hitting plasma temperatures over 150 million ºC.

“Fusion is no longer a future idea, but a path to clean, reliable, affordable always-on electricity at scale. This funding accelerates our ability to deliver on that promise,” said David Kirtley, CEO of Helion. “This support of new and existing investors is a strong signal they believe, as we do, that Helion is best positioned to generate electricity from fusion for customers this decade, not the next, and that we have the right technology and strategy to build the commercial fusion market over the long term.”

Fueling the AI Demand

Investors see fusion as a way to meet the rapidly growing artificial intelligence and heavy manufacturing demand.

“At Thrive, we aim to invest in category-defining companies,” said Vince Hankes, partner at Thrive Capital. “We believe Helion has the technical ambition, pace of execution, and commercial orientation to define a new category of energy. We are deeply inspired by David and the Helion team’s mission to bring clean, reliable fusion power to the world, and honored to support them for the long arc ahead.”

“Abundant, affordable energy is essential for the future of innovation. Commercializing fusion will be critical to meeting the world’s growing energy needs and no company is better positioned to do that in the near term than Helion, Ravi Mhatre, co-founder of Lightspeed Venture Partners added. “We are happy to renew our commitment to Helion and participate in this round.”