Renaissance Fusion

Renaissance Fusion is a deeptech startup founded in 2020 in Grenoble by Francesco Volpe and Martin Kupp, focused on nuclear fusion energy through stellarator technology — an alternative approach to the more widespread tokamak design, aiming to simplify reactor geometry through the use of high-temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets and liquid lithium walls, reducing the engineering complexity typical of fusion reactors. March 2025 brought a significant funding round: a €32 million Series A, backed primarily by the Environmental and Solidarity Revolution Fund promoted by Crédit Mutuel Alliance Fédérale and U.S. fund Lowercarbon Capital, bringing the company's total funding to about €47 million by November 2025. The company's technology roadmap sets out precise milestones: demonstrating the ability to produce high-temperature superconducting magnets by the end of 2025, with progressive commercialisation starting in 2026; a demonstrator integrating tubular HTS magnets and liquid lithium walls expected by the end of 2026; launching a pilot line for large-scale HTS production in 2026, funded through a new Series A2 round; generating revenue starting in 2027; and commercialising nuclear fusion reactors during the 2030s. Renaissance Fusion is part of a fast-growing European ecosystem of nuclear fusion startups, supported by growing conviction — shared by public and private investors — that fusion could represent a clean, virtually unlimited long-term energy source, though commercialisation timelines necessarily remain long and subject to technological uncertainty, as with the fusion sector globally.