MENLO TIMES

Photoncycle , the year-round solar energy system for heating and electricity for your home, led by Bjorn Brandtzaeg, Per Hjalmarsson, Sebastian Gutterød, Elina Koivisto, and Koray Abatay, has raised €15M in Series A funding led by NordicNinja  and Voima Ventures , Nordic's leading deep-tech and energy transition investors, with participation from existing investors Lifeline Ventures , Eviny Ventures , Luminar Ventures , and Momentum . The funds will support the commercial rol

Heron Power , built for the grid ahead, led by Drew Baglino and the team, has announced  the closing of $140 million in Series B financing co-led by Andreessen Horowitz’s ( a16z ) American Dynamism Fund and Breakthrough Energy Ventures , with participation from existing investors  Capricorn Investment Group ,  Energy Impact Partners , Valor Atreides AI Fund, and  Gigascale Capital . With the new financing, Heron Power will build a 40-gigawatt automated U.S. manufacturing faci

Inertia , the commercial fusion energy company, led by Jeff Lawson, Annie Kritcher, and Mike Dunne, has raised  $450 million in investment to bring limitless clean energy to the world. The Series A round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners , with participation from additional firms including GV  (Google Ventures), Modern Capital , Threshold Ventures , and more. Founded in 2024, Inertia is developing a fusion pilot plant using physics proven at LLNL’s National Ignition Facili

Lunar Energy , the leader in integrated home battery systems and Virtual Power Plant software, led by Kunal Girotra, and others, announced it raised $102 million in an oversubscribed Series D round led by B Capital  and Prelude Ventures . This round follows a previously unannounced Series C financing of $130 million led by Activate Capital . These commitments will accelerate Lunar’s mission of powering every home with clean, reliable, and affordable energy with its suite of h

Avalanche Energy , a Seattle-based start-up developing enormously energy-dense compact fusion machines for clean power generation, led by Robin Langtry, Brian Riordan, Kate Kelly, Michael Prato, and others, has announced  $29 million in new funding led by RA Capital Management . New investors include 8090 Industries , Overlay Capital , and others, with full participation from existing investors Congruent Ventures , Founders Fund , Lowercarbon Capital , and Toyota Ventures . T

Redwood Materials , securing U.S. critical materials, powering America’s energy future, led by JB Straubel, Chris Lister, Colin Campbell, and others, has announced  Series E financing, bringing the total raise to $425 million, with continued participation from existing investors, Capricorn  and Goldman Sachs Alternatives , and welcomes Google as a new investor.   Driven by strong demand, the increase from the previously announced $350 million underscores confidence in the lon

Standard Nuclear , establishing the backbone of the advanced nuclear fuel cycle, led by Kurt Terrani, Keeley Marrocco, and others, has announced  it has secured $140M in Series A funding from investors led by Decisive Point  with participation from new investors Chevron Technology Ventures , StepStone Group , XTX Ventures , and existing investors Welara, Fundomo , Andreessen Horowitz , Washington Harbour Partners , and Crucible Capital , among many others.  This funding will

Commonwealth Fusion Systems , an MIT spin-out fusion energy company, led by Bob Mumgaard, Dan Brunner, Brandon Sorbom, and Zach Hartwig, has completed  and delivered its first cutting-edge, superstrong magnet — a culmination of years of work to develop and manufacture the foundational technology to  bring fusion energy to the grid .   A 24-ton steel-clad toroidal field magnet was transported to the SPARC facility in Devens, Massachusetts, marking the first of 18 magnets neede

Enlightra , building scalable, extreme-bandwidth, and low-power optical interconnects for the future of computing and communications, led by John Jost and Maxim Karpov, has announced it has raised a total of $15 million in funding to tackle the biggest bottleneck in AI infrastructure: fast and energy-efficient data transfer. The company’s investors include Y Combinator , Runa Capital , Pegasus Tech Ventures , Protocol Labs , Halo Labs, Asymmetry Ventures , and TRAC VC , among

Radiant , a clean energy startup building a nuclear microreactor, led by Doug Bernauer , Dr. Rita Baranwal, Dr. Mike Starrett, and others, has raised  more than $300 million in a new round of funding led by Draper Associates  and Boost VC , with additional financial commitments from current investors, reinforcing their continued confidence in Radiant’s positioning in the microreactor space. As part of this latest capital raise, Radiant also received additional investment from

Fervo Energy , delivering 24/7 carbon-free geothermal energy, led by Tim Latimer, Jack Norbeck, PhD, David Ulrey, Christian Gradl, Sarah Jewett, and others, has announced  the closing of its oversubscribed $462 million Series E funding round, led by new investor  B Capital , with participation from new investors, including AllianceBernstein, Atacama Ventures, Carbon Equity, Climate First, Google, Mitsui & Co., Dr. Kris Singh (Founder of Holtec International), and JB Straubel.

Orbital Marine Power , the future of clean, predictable power solutions, led by Andrew Scott, Chris Milne, and Oliver Wragg, has secured £7 million in investment. PXN Ventures  – the combined VC arm of Praetura Ventures and Par Equity- joined existing shareholders, including Scottish Enterprise, to invest in Orbital. The investment follows strong momentum in Canada, where Nova Scotia recently awarded Orbital and Eauclaire Tidal Ltd major new tidal energy licenses through its

Boom Supersonic , the company building the world’s fastest airliner, led by Blake Scholl, Rachel Devine, Jeff Mabry, Megan Young, and others, has announced  a backlog of more than $1.25 billion for its Superpower turbine and revealed its launch customer, Crusoe . The company also closed a $300 million funding round led by Darsana Capital Partners , with participation from Altimeter Capital , ARK Invest , Bessemer Venture Partners , Robinhood Ventures , and Y Combinator . Supe

Quilt , the world’s most intuitive, advanced, and efficient ductless heat pump on the market, led by Paul Lambert, Matthew Knoll, and Bill Kee, has secured  a $20M Series B round from   Energy Impact Partners , Galvanize ,  Lowercarbon Capital ,  Gradient Ventures ,  Alumni Ventures , Incite Ventures , and others. The company is welcoming  Tom vonReichbauer (former CFO of Nest, Sunrun, and ICON) and  Veery Maxwell  (co-head of Galvanize Climate’s Innovation + Expansion fund)

Antares , building purpose-designed modular power for defense-critical assets, led by Jordan Bramble  and  Julia DeWahl , has secured $96 million in Series B led by Shine Capital  with participation from Alt Capital , Caffeinated , 53 Stations , Industrious Ventures , and others. The capital provides the momentum and discipline needed to achieve a milestone not seen in the United States for decades: the ability to design, build, and test nuclear reactors within a few years ra

Future Energy Ventures , supporting ready-to-scale start-ups active in Europe, Israel, or the USA whose mission is to accelerate the energy transition and decarbonize society, led by Jan Lozek, Veronique Hördemann, Patrick Elftmann, Ohad Mamann, and others, has announced  the closing of Future Energy Ventures Fund II with a volume of €205 million, along with a dedicated capital fund for Italy of €30 million. With this milestone, FEV becomes the largest European advisor for...

EcoG , empowering the scaling of charging infrastructure and accelerating emission-free mobility, led by Joerg Heuer, Johannes Hund, Sebastian Lucae, Pierdomenico Staglieno, and others, has raised  €16 million in a Series B funding round led by  GET Fund ,  Extantia , and  Bayern Kapital . The fast-charging market for electric logistics and commercial fleets is growing quickly, but fragmented systems still hinder scale and reliability. Munich-based EcoG addresses this with an

PowerUP , developing and producing high-quality and sustainable energy generation products, led by Ivar Kruusenberg, Marit Riis, Kush Chadha, and Henri Kaar, has secured  a €10 million Series A funding round co-led by dual-use venture firms Mercaton and  ScaleWolf  and joined by Estonia’s SmartCap Green Fund  (funded by the European Union’s Next Generation EU), with strong participation from existing investors. The core of PowerUP’s strategy is a dual-use mission: providing r

Maritime Fusion , building a first-of-a-kind fusion reactor for marine and off-grid applications, led by Justin Cohen and Jason Kaufmann, has secured  $4.5 million in seed funding led by Trucks VC , with participation from Paul Graham, Aera VC , Alumni Ventures , Y Combinator , and others. The HTS magnet lab in San Francisco is now operational, enabling rapid testing of prototype cables and magnets. A recent bench test carried 5 kA through the SHIELD HTS cable using liquid ni

Zap Energy , building a seriously cheap, compact, scalable fusion energy technology, led by Benj Conway, Brian A. Nelson, and Uri Shumlak, has achieved  plasmas with electron pressures as high as 830 megapascals (MPa), or 1.6 gigapascals (GPa) total, comparable to the pressures found deep below Earth’s crust. The results are the highest-pressure performance to date in a  sheared-flow-stabilized Z pinch  and an important marker on the path to scientific energy gain, or Q>1. Fu