European startup Proxima Fusion has received over €7.5m (US$8m) in funding during its pre-seed round. 

The startup specialises in creating fusion power plants with QI stellarators to deliver emission free energy. Investors include Bosch, the FlixFounders fund and a pool of angel investors. 

Proxima Fusion was spun out of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in January 2023 and its founders include former MIT and Google-X scientists. 

Co-founder of green transportation company Flix (behind the FlixFounders fund) Jochen Engert stated that the company had “absolute confidence in [Proxima Fusion’s] execution power and the impact their stellarators will have on the planet, and we are happy to support them on the way towards it.” 

“Proxima’s team proved to be one of the outlier cases where academic excellence meets deep entrepreneurial spirit, a match we had not seen in a while,” Engert stated.

Proxima Fusion has already had success of its W7-X, a stellarator it touted as the most advanced worldwide. 

Alongside the funding, several scientists from Tesla, Stanford and Harvard are in the process of relocating to join Proxima Fusion’s Munich-based team. 

In a statement confirming the funding, Proxima Fusion stated that the money would consolidate its plans towards becoming a leader in the private clean energy sector.