Twilio co-founder’s fusion power startup raises $450M from Bessemer and Alphabet’s GV

Inertia Enterprises has just pulled in a staggering $450 million in Series A funding to build one of the most powerful lasers on the planet — and they’re not doing it just for the spectacle. This is fusion power’s next big leap, and it’s happening right now. Led by Bessemer Venture Partners with participation from GV, Modern Capital, and Threshold Ventures, the funding round is set to accelerate Inertia’s mission to bring fusion energy to the grid by 2030.

The startup is building directly on groundbreaking research from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility (NIF), the only place in the world where controlled fusion reactions have achieved “scientific breakeven” — meaning the energy released from the fusion reaction exceeded the energy required to start it. That’s not just a scientific milestone; it’s a proof point that fusion can work. Now, Inertia is betting big that they can take this science and turn it into scalable, commercial power.

The brains behind the operation include Jeff Lawson, co-founder and CEO of Twilio, who’s now turning his attention to the energy sector. Joining him are Annie Kritcher, who led the NIF’s successful fusion experiments, and Mike Dunne, a Stanford professor who helped design NIF’s power plant concepts. Kritcher, notably, is staying on at Lawrence Livermore while contributing to Inertia’s efforts — a dual commitment that speaks to the project’s credibility and ambition.

But getting from scientific breakeven to grid-ready electricity is no small feat. Inertia’s plan hinges on building a laser system capable of delivering 10 kilojoules of energy 10 times per second — a massive leap from NIF’s setup. Their approach uses inertial confinement fusion, where high-powered lasers compress a tiny fuel pellet until the atoms inside fuse and release energy. It’s the same basic science as NIF, but Inertia’s design is built for mass production and commercial deployment.

Each of their future power plants will require 1,000 of these advanced lasers targeting 4.5mm fuel capsules, each costing less than a dollar to produce. Compare that to NIF’s painstakingly handcrafted targets, which take dozens of hours to make and cost far more — and you start to see the innovation. Inertia is taking a high-science, high-stakes concept and applying a Silicon Valley mindset: scale, cost reduction, and speed to market.

This funding round is just the latest in a wave of massive investments flooding the fusion sector. In recent months, fusion startups have collectively raised over $10 billion, with more than a dozen companies securing over $100 million each. It’s a clear signal that investors see fusion not as a distant dream, but as an imminent reality.

Just last week, Avalanche announced a $29 million raise to advance its desktop-sized fusion reactor concept. Earlier this year, Type One Energy secured $87 million in funding, with a $250 million Series B on the horizon. And last summer, Commonwealth Fusion Systems brought in a whopping $863 million from backers including Google, Nvidia, and Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

The momentum is undeniable. Two fusion companies have even announced plans to go public via reverse mergers — General Fusion, which will merge with Spring Valley III in a $1 billion deal, and TAE Technologies, which is merging with Donald Trump’s Trump Media & Technology Group in a $6 billion all-stock transaction.

The race to commercialize fusion is officially on, and Inertia Enterprises just placed a very big bet. With $450 million in fresh capital, world-class scientific leadership, and a laser-focused (pun intended) plan to deliver grid-scale fusion power by 2030, they’re not just chasing the future — they’re building it. The next decade in energy is about to get a whole lot brighter.

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