Zap Energy is developing a fusion reactor based on a sheared flow stabilized Z-pinch, often described as a “lightning-in-a-bottle” approach. Its design sends an electrified plasma stream through a vacuum chamber so the plasma generates its own magnetic confinement field, avoiding costly external magnets and lasers. Each pulse releases neutrons that, in the company’s final design, would be captured and converted to heat by a molten metal jacket surrounding the reactor core. The core technology was spun out of research at the University of Washington and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Zap recently tested a prototype reactor successfully and says it expects its reactor’s power production to reach breakeven within a year. The company has raised fresh capital to advance development and commercialization efforts. Zap Energy is developing a compact, low-cost and scalable fusion reactor that uses a sheared-flow stabilized (SFS) Z-pinch and does not employ magnetic fields. The reactor design is modular and tolerant to high-energy neutrons, and builds on work first pioneered by the FuZE team at the University of Washington together with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Zap achieved thermonuclear fusion in 2018 and is targeting scientific energy breakeven by 2023. The company says success would enable inexpensive, unlimited carbon-free energy and plans to use new capital to advance key reactor technologies toward that goal. Zap Energy was co-founded in 2017 and is based in Seattle, WA. Financially, the company has recently closed a $27.5M Series B following a $6.5M Series A nine months earlier. Zap Energy is a Seattle-based start-up founded in 2018 developing a next-generation modular nuclear reactor for fusion power. Its core technology stabilizes plasma using sheared flows to confine and compress the plasma. The company positions its approach as aiming for cost-effective, flexible, and commercially scalable fusion. Zap Energy says it will use proceeds from the recent round to continue technology development and to grow its development team. The company is part of broader industry efforts to develop low-carbon energy alternatives to conventional fission power. Zap Energy is described in the article as having completed a notable financing. According to an SEC filing cited by the article, the company closed a $130 million round. Investors in that round included Soros Fund and Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective. The SEC filing states the raise brings the company’s total capital raised to $327 million. The article does not provide information about the company’s product, operating metrics, founding year, location, or the full investor syndicate.

Total raised

$318M

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series C

Latest activity

Jun 2022