Marathon Fusion Closes $5.9m Seed Round to Process Fuel for Fusion Energy

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Jul 18, 2024, 10:32 ET

SAN FRANCISCO, July 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Marathon Fusion, a startup developing fuel processing technology for the fusion industry, announced today a fundraise led by 1517 Fund and Anglo American, with participation from Übermorgen Ventures, Shared Future Fund, Malcolm Handley and other leading investors. Alongside a CREATE award from the Department of Energy's ARPA-E, these investments bring Marathon Fusion's total funding to $6.9M.

Fusion can play a critical role in the energy transformation by providing clean, affordable and firm power at terawatt scale. But to fulfill that vision, the industry needs high-throughput processing of fusion fuel to meet the demands of commercial power plants.

Since its founding in 2023, Marathon Fusion has been dedicated to making improvements to fuel processing efficiency. Its technology allows fusion power plants to operate with less tritium inventory, enabling smaller facilities and improved operational expenses.

Marathon Fusion was supported early on by the Breakthrough Energy Fellows program, which funds promising, early-stage ideas and technologies in the fight against climate change. By providing capital, mentorship, education, and access to the Breakthrough Energy network, the program helps bridge the gap from lab to market.

Now working to commercialize this technology to enable rapid, efficient and high-throughput processing of fusion fuel, Marathon aims to reduce onsite tritium inventories and improve plant economics, helping to ensure that fusion has a path to scale to its full potential.

The new funding will allow Marathon Fusion to accelerate the development and deployment of its fuel processing technology in fusion power plants. The company has signed Letters of Intent with Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Helion Energy, two leading fusion startups aiming for the near-term deployment of fusion power plants.

"Part of the success of the ARC program will lie with industrial innovators to develop systems solving technical challenges inherent to fusion and enabling fusion power plants to be economically viable," said Brandon Sorbom, Chief Science Officer, and Co-founder, Commonwealth Fusion Systems. "We see Marathon's technology as one of these key enablers. By facilitating continuous operation for fusion devices, efficient fuel systems can provide three major benefits: a lower tritium inventory, cost savings, and an overall simplification of the power plant."

"Fusion fuel is immensely valuable but also highly scarce. Fusion power plants will require a closed fuel cycle, making it crucial to recycle fuel from exhaust back into injection systems as quickly as possible," said Malcolm Handley, founder of Strong Atomics. "Fuel processing is one of a few critical engineering problems that really enable the fusion ecosystem as a whole, and Marathon is leading the charge here."

"Advances in energy creation are about abundance: by using more energy, we can do more as a civilization. Fusion is a clean, incredibly dense source of energy, and crucially, provides a viable replacement for always-on baseload power plants," said Danielle Strachman - founder and General Partner at 1517 Fund. "Marathon Fusion's technology will enable the growth of the fusion industry beyond breakeven, helping usher in large-scale deployment and a new era of energy creation."

Marathon Fusion is currently hiring for roles in San Francisco. To learn more, visit www.marathonfusion.com.

About Marathon Fusion
Marathon Fusion began operations in 2023 to develop high-efficiency fuel systems to accelerate the deployment and improve the economics of fusion power plants. Marathon's technology is designed to enable the rapid, continuous, and high-throughput recycling of fusion fuel. Marathon is supported by leading institutions including the Department of Energy's ARPA-E, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, 1517 Fund, Übermorgen Ventures, Anglo American Decarbonization Ventures, Shared Future Fund, and Malcolm Handley. For more information, visit www.marathonfusion.com.

About Breakthrough Energy Fellows
The Breakthrough Energy Fellows program is designed to tackle early-stage barriers to climate technology innovation. By providing scientists, innovators, and entrepreneurs with research funding and hands-on support, the program ensures projects have the resources they need to advance to the next stages of development.

For information specific to Breakthrough Energy's Fellows program, please visit www.breakthroughenergy.org/our-work/fellows/

CONTACT: Kyle Schiller; [email protected]; +1 503 354 9321

SOURCE Marathon Fusion, Inc.