On January 12, the Signing ceremony for Landing in Shanghai and the Investment Signing Ceremony for Startorus Fusion was successfully held in Jiading, Shanghai. It is reported that Startorus Fusion has successfully completed its Series A financing round worth 1 billion yuan, with the funds to be fully allocated to advancing its controlled nuclear fusion technology from experimental verification to engineering demonstration and accelerating its commercialization process.
This round of financing was led by Shanghai STVC Group and Shanghai Future Industry Fund, both under the umbrella of Shanghai State-owned Capital Investment, as well as Shanghai CCI Investment Co., Ltd. and JIADING VENTURE CAPITAL as co-lead investors. A consortium of institutional and individual investors including Bank of China Financial Asset Investment Co., Ltd., Ningbo Xichen Private Fund Management Co., Ltd., SUMMITVIEW CAPITAL, Longge Technology, Feitu Venture Investment, SAIC Motor Financial Holdings Co., Ltd., Yankuang Energy Group Company Limited (a subsidiary of Shandong Energy Group CO..LTD.), CIMC Safeway Technologies Co., Ltd., Sunrise Capital Management Co., Ltd. , HUA CAPITAL, Shenwan Hongyuan Securities Co., Ltd., BEFORE CAPITAL and Nebula Asset Management Limited also participated in the investment. The lead investor in the company’s Pre-A round, the Intellectual Property Fund under Shanghai STVC Group, continued to follow the lead. The financing will be used to fully advance the construction of the next-generation fusion apparatus. The company plans to complete engineering verification by around 2028, initiate the construction of a commercial demonstration reactor, and build a fusion demonstration reactor capable of generating electricity by around 2032.
Xiao Wengao, Secretary of Jiading District Committee, Gao Xiang, Deputy Secretary and District Chief of Jiading District Committee, Lu Zufang, Standing Committee Member and Executive Deputy District Chief of Jiading District Committee, Zheng Guanghong, Second level Counsel of Shanghai Science and Technology Commission, Lu Haibin, Secretary and Director of the Party Group of Shanghai Nuclear Power Office, Zhu Min, Director of Science and Technology Innovation of Shanghai State-owned Capital Investment, Secretary and Chairman of the Party Committee of Shanghai STVC Group, representatives of relevant committees and bureaus such as the Municipal Development and Reform Commission and the Municipal Economic and Information Commission, responsible persons of relevant investment institutions, and representatives of enterprises such as Chen Rui, CEO of Startorus Fusion, and Tan Yi, Chief Scientist of Startorus Fusion, attended the signing ceremony.
Chen Rui introduced that Startorus Fusion has transformed scientific and technological achievements from Tsinghua University. The core team has more than 20 years of research and development experience in the field of fusion and has built technical capabilities covering the entire industry chain. The implementation of this project is a key measure for Shanghai to layout the future energy industry and cultivate new quality productivity, which will inject important momentum into the construction of a globally influential science and technology innovation center.
Zhu Min stated that Shanghai STVC Group has twice led the investment in Startorus Fusion and promoted its landing in Shanghai, witnessing its gradual growth into a leading enterprise in the domestic controllable fusion field with full stack independent research and development, engineering landing, and rapid iteration capabilities. This further strengthens the determination to support enterprises in overcoming the technical difficulties of “artificial sun”.
This continuous increase in support stems from the forward-looking thinking of Shanghai STVC Group under the guidance of the overall controllable nuclear fusion strategic planning of Shanghai State-owned Capital Investment, aiming at this cutting-edge hard technology track and adhering to the “advanced layout and system layout”. In the future, Shanghai STVC Group will work together with Startorus Fusion and industry chain partners to accelerate the process of fusion energy from “scientific experiments” to “commercial applications”.
Shanghai State-owned Capital Investment has long been focusing on the development of advanced energy industries, anchoring its goals as “a promoter of fusion industry, a builder of fusion ecology, and a linker of fusion capital”. It has conducted comprehensive layout around industrial chain links such as apparatus, materials, devices, AI for Fusion, and has invested in China Nuclear Fuel Corporation Limited, Startorus Fusion, Dongsheng Fusion (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Superconductor Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai Creative Superconductor Technologies Co., Ltd., YIXI TECHNOLOGY, Anhui Xirong Zhaobo Technology Co., Ltd., and other enterprises. Next, Shanghai State-owned Capital Investment will increase research and development efforts around key scientific issues and engineering technologies related to controllable nuclear fusion, promote high-quality development of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, optimize the fusion innovation ecosystem, and jointly build an internationally leading and domestically first-class fusion energy innovation highland.
