The UK government has announced £20m ($25.7m) to kickstart a private fusion investment fund, Starmaker One, to “help fusion businesses and start-ups in the sector grow and commercialise at scale” The initial investment is expected to unlock further investment from the private sector as the fusion industry grows “helping cement the UK as a world leader in the technology and creating highly-skilled jobs”.
The funding boost will help small fusion companies provide training for their workforce in key areas such as physics, engineering and chemistry. It will also support companies to develop technologies and capitalise on the opportunities of fusion energy in markets such as magnetics, industrial AI, robotics, healthcare, transportation and energy storage.
Starmaker One is a limited partnership in which the government is a cornerstone investor. The fund has potential to raise between £100m and £150m overall, including the £20m from the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) for investment into fusion-related technology. The funding comes from the government’s existing Research and Development budget for 2024/2025.
East X Ventures will act as fund manager. Government will receive a share of any returns made by the partnership. East X Ventures is the venture capital arm of East X, a London based quantitative systematic research and investment firm operating across global commodity markets. East X Ventures invests in early-stage, science-led companies with high-growth, world-scale potential.
“Fusion has the potential to provide us with energy security, whilst attracting the best technologies to our shores and training up the next generation of British scientists and engineers,” said Energy Secretary Ed Miliband. “We are backing both nuclear and fusion power, and today we take a step forward in growing this exciting industry.”
Energy Minister Kerry McCarthy, said: “Investment in Starmaker One signals the first early-stage fusion energy venture capital fund outside the US and the first of its kind to partner with government as an investor. Investing in fusion technology will pave the way to delivering a clean safe, secure and abundant baseload energy, helping to meet rising energy demand in the years ahead.”
This investment will give industry cash upfront to grow their businesses and supply chains. It follows on from a government commitment for a record level of £410m, announced in January, for UK fusion research and collaboration with other countries to develop clean, unlimited power and drive economic growth.
