There are two basic approaches to nuclear fusion power: one is to create a tiny star on Earth, held in place by a strong magnetic field, and the second is to use powerful lasers to create even smaller stars, repeating the process several times per second.
Moritz von der Linden thinks the latter is more likely: in a world rushing to move away from fossil fuels, fusion power promises to provide a virtually limitless source of energy, using widely available materials to recreate conditions hotter than the surface of the sun.
But most analysts believe fusion power is still at least a decade away from commercialization. It will also compete with renewable energy and battery storage, which are getting cheaper every year. “Fusion has to get there fast and cheap,” Marvel Fusion co-founder and CEO Gregory L. Schneider told TechCrunch. “Otherwise, nobody's going to need it and nobody's going to be willing to pay for it.”
Marvel Fusion is one of several companies pursuing a technology called inertial confinement fusion, the same basic approach used at the National Ignition Facility, a U.S. Department of Energy lab that proved in 2022 that a controlled fusion reaction can produce more energy than needed for ignition. That could be a useful milestone for startups chasing the previously elusive technology.
But while NIF's lasers are based on decades-old designs, Marvel is using cutting-edge technology to improve its lasers' power and efficiency. The startup will soon build a demonstration facility in collaboration with Colorado State University, where it hopes two 100-joule lasers will demonstrate the company's core technology. Drilling began on October 16, and von der Linden expects to be up and running by early 2027.
These lasers fire faster than the blink of an eye—in the femtosecond range (a billionth of a second)—and bombard nanostructured targets with photons, blowing away electrons and scattering the positively charged ions that remain. These ions then collide with Marvel's fuel, sparking a fusion reaction. Right now, the company primarily uses a mix of hydrogen and boron, but von der Linden says the company is taking a “mixed fuel” approach to keep its options open in case a more favorable combination comes along.
NIF's fuel pellets are housed in one-centimeter gold cavities and take two weeks to manufacture and load, whereas Marvel's fuel and target are designed for mass production. The fuel itself is a solid at room temperature, making it easier to handle than NIF's fuel pellets, which use gaseous or cryogenically frozen hydrogen isotopes. Marvel's target is also simpler, made of silicon rather than gold.
“It was a kind of awakening,” von der Linden says. “When the physicists discovered that silicon was better, the Target people said, 'Yay! Now we can use standard lithography for chip making.'” Marvel plans to produce features with dimensions of about 50 to 80 nanometers, allowing the company to use semiconductor-making equipment that is up to 10 years old. The company can produce about 5,000 targets on a standard 300-millimeter wafer.
If the Colorado experiment goes as planned, the company plans to increase the power of both lasers in 2028 or 2029. To help reach this milestone, Marvell recently raised €62.8 million in a Series B round, the company told TechCrunch exclusively. The round was led by HV Capital, with participation from b2venture, BayernKapital, Deutsche Telekom, SPRIND and Tenglemann Ventures. The company has also been selected for a €2.5 million grant and up to €15 million in equity investment from the European Innovation Council, which would extend the round if it materializes.
Marvel's first commercial-scale prototype, due to be ready around 2032 or 2033, will feature 10 to 20 2-kilojoule lasers, von der Linden says. “With 20 lasers, we can really control the acceleration of the ions,” he says. Each laser would fire about 10 times per second.
That will be the moment of truth. While the company's Colorado facility will be a useful milestone, “it's like driving a Ferrari with a two-cylinder engine,” von der Linden said. “It works, but it doesn't do what it's supposed to do.” In Marvel's case, it's about generating useful amounts of power. Once the full-scale prototype fires all those, er, lasers, the startup has a chance to cross the fusion finish line. The race is on.