Gates-Backed Fusion Power Startup Type One Raises $53.5 Million

Fusion startup Type One Energy Group has raised another $53.5 million to develop commercial power plants using the same process that lights up stars.

The round was led by Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures, GD1 from New Zealand and Centaurus Capital. It adds to $29 million in funding the company received last year from Breakthrough as well as TDK Ventures and Doral Energy Tech Ventures.

Type One’s technology will use powerful magnets to control a superheated cloud of plasma and harness fusion, which fuses atoms together rather than split them apart. Chief Executive Officer Chris Mowry ...