Key facts
- Fusionality, founded by former Google DeepMind engineers, aims to build control systems for fusion power.
- The startup raised $3.7 million in pre-seed funding from Founderful and Playfair.
- The company will develop standardized control systems and simulation environments for fusion reactors.
- Fusionality is initially focusing on magnetic confinement fusion technology.
Former Google DeepMind engineers Federico Felici and Jonas Buchli have launched Fusionality, a startup focused on developing specialized control systems and simulation environments for the burgeoning fusion power industry. The company announced it has raised $3.7 million (CHF 3 million) in pre-seed funding from investors Founderful and Playfair.
Felici and Buchli identified a significant gap in the market, where fusion companies often build their control systems from scratch, despite an 80% commonality in their fundamental requirements. Fusionality aims to capitalize on this by providing modular control systems and simulation tools that startups can adapt to their specific reactor designs.
The founders met while working on AI for experimental fusion devices at EPFL and later at Google DeepMind. While acknowledging AI's role, Felici believes it will complement rather than fully replace human control in fusion reactors for the foreseeable future.
Initially, Fusionality will concentrate on magnetic confinement fusion, a leading approach in the field, with plans to extend its offerings to other fusion methodologies. The current seven-person team will use the funding to develop a select number of core technologies, likened to 'Lego blocks,' with the ambition to support the wide range of technologies needed for operating a fusion reactor.