Phillip Sarofim and the Trousdale Ventures team are excited to announce the global venture capital firm’s participation in the Series A funding round for trailblazing fusion energy startup Pacific Fusion. Launched in the summer of 2023, Pacific Fusion was founded with a clear mission: to power the world with abundant, affordable, clean energy, an imperative that is a driving force behind Trousdale Ventures’ approach to climate tech investments.
As global energy demand continues to soar, Pacific Fusion is working toward a path to affordable fusion power. The company was launched to build upon established science, proven engineering, and recent scientific breakthroughs in inertial fusion and pulsed power, with the ultimate goal of creating the world’s most sustainable and affordable on-demand power source.
Pacific Fusion is pursuing a pulsed magnetic path to inertial fusion — that is, using fast-rising, high-current pulses to magnetically squeeze and heat small containers of deuterium-tritium fuel, driving the fuel to fusion conditions.
Pacific Fusion is led by Eric Lander, whose experience building impact-driven scientific teams to tackle modern society’s most complex challenges — including his groundbreaking work on the Human Genome Project — is key to the startup’s purpose and pursuit. He is joined by Will Regan, Keith LeChien, Carrie von Muench, and Leland Ellison, all visionary leaders who oversee a team of many of the best scientists, engineers, and operators from the fusion community and hard tech industry.
The Series A funding round provides more than $900M to serve an immediate goal: net facility gain. Pacific Fusion will employ this influx of capital to build a high-gain pulsed magnetic fusion driver to achieve net facility gain (more fusion energy output than all stored energy input). The team has also started engineering the components and systems needed for affordable commercial fusion systems.
Phillip Sarofim and Trousdale Ventures joined an influential mix of institutional VCs and individual company builders in Pacific Fusion’s funding round, including Hemant Taneja of General Catalyst (who led the round), Ken Griffin, Lachy Groom, Mustafa Suleyman, Patrick Collison, Reid Hoffman, and Richard Merkin. The funding round is structured in a unique way: The funding is all committed upfront (to mitigate financing risk), and it’s unlocked as the Pacific Fusion team achieves predefined milestones (to ensure accountability).
Actionable investments such as Pacific Fusion’s Series A funding round demonstrate Phillip Sarofim and Trousdale Ventures’ commitment to empowering visionary founders to pursue bold action and forge companies that unlock transformative solutions that mitigate environmental threats, safeguard our planet, and preserve the well-being of future generations, all while presenting opportunities for financial prosperity.