Bezos, Lütke-backed B.C. nuclear fusion company eyeing dual TSX-Nasdaq listing

General Fusion aims to hit key technical milestones by 2028, which would allow the company to scale up and commercialize its tech into a large-scale, nuclear fusion power plant. Photo by Contributed/General Fusion

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The Vancouver-based company, which is developing magnetized target fusion technology — a process that uses mechanical compression to create fusion energy — is set to debut on the Nasdaq as soon as June by merging with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company.

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The deal will give General Fusion US$105 million in public equity investment and US$230 million of Spring Valley’s trust capital, barring redemptions, and values the company at US$1 billion. It will become the first pure-play fusion company to be publicly traded.

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“But as we move forward, we’re considering the TSX and a dual-listing type of path, which would hopefully open things up for the Canadian government and Canadian investors to step in a little bit more,” chief executive Greg Twinney said.

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He said there are “massive” opportunities for homegrown investors.

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General Fusion’s control room at its Richmond, B.C. Facility. Photo by Contributed/General Fusion

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Nuclear fusion energy, often called the “holy grail” of clean energy for its potential ability to generate massive amounts of energy without creating greenhouse gases or radioactive waste, could become a US$1-trillion market by 2050, according to Ignition Research.

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“We’re a leader in that space, so the opportunity for serious value creation is huge,” he said. “I would like to think Canadian investors see that as well.”

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But companies still need to figure out how to harness fusion energy. General Fusion aims to hit key technical milestones by 2028, such as heating ionized gases called plasmas to increasingly higher temperatures, eventually 100 million degrees C, to trigger nuclear fusion, which would allow the company to scale up and commercialize its tech into a large-scale, nuclear fusion power plant.

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“It will recalibrate the industry when we hit these milestones, and we feel pretty confident about our ability to do it,” Twinney said.

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He said its nuclear fusion plant could come online as soon as 2035 and cost billions of dollars.

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General Fusion’s Lawson 26 machine at its Richmond, B.C. facility. Photo by Contributed/General Fusion

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But Twinney released an open letter a year ago outlining General Fusion’s “urgent financing constraints” at the time, which led it to lay off around 25 per cent of its staff. The company at the time was seeking US$125 million to stay afloat.

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Despite the upcoming Nasdaq listing, Twinney said Vancouver “right now continues to be a great place for us to build the company,” even though the market for fusion is worldwide.

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Scientists in the United States, China and Europe have made recent breakthroughs in nuclear fusion energy and global investment in the sector has jumped to a record US$10 billion.

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U.S. companies have received the lion’s share of global private investment in fusion, raising around US$7 billion last year, while the Chinese government is annually pumping about US$1.5 billion into its domestic industry.

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