Helion Energy
Funding History
| Series E · 11/2021 | $3.0B |
|---|---|
| Series F · 01/2025 | $5.4B |
| Series G · 06/2026 | $15.5B |
About
Helion Energy is a privately held fusion energy technology company building the world's first fusion power plant. Rather than using fusion heat to boil water and drive a turbine like conventional and most other proposed fusion approaches, Helion's pulsed, non-ignition approach recovers electricity directly from the expansion of fusion-generated plasma using its own magnetic field.
- CEO
- David Kirtley
- Employees
- 800+
- Headquarters
- Everett, WA
- Founded
- 2013
- Website
- Helionenergy.com
Overview
Helion Energy is a private fusion energy company headquartered in Everett, Washington, founded in 2013 by David Kirtley, John Slough, Chris Pihl, and George Votroubek. Helion is developing a proprietary pulsed, non-ignition magneto-inertial fusion approach that aims to generate electricity directly from the fusion reaction's own magnetic field, rather than using fusion heat to drive a steam turbine as most other approaches do.
The company's seventh-generation prototype, Polaris, has operated using deuterium-tritium fuel and reached plasma temperatures exceeding 150 million degrees Celsius, both industry firsts for a privately developed fusion machine, according to Helion's February 2026 announcement.
Helion is now building its first commercial-scale plant, Orion, near Malaga, Washington, under a landmark 2023 power purchase agreement with Microsoft for at least 50 megawatts of fusion electricity beginning in 2028 -- the world's first such agreement for fusion power -- and a subsequent October 2023 agreement with steelmaker Nucor for a 500-megawatt plant targeted for the 2030s.
In June 2026, Helion became the first fusion company in the world to receive state regulatory licenses (a Radioactive Materials License and a Radioactive Air Emissions License from Washington's Department of Health) to build and operate a fusion facility. The company is chaired by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who has been an investor and chairman since 2015.
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