Fusionality Builds Common Control for Fusion Startups | Tech News

0:00On September 9th, yo, so check it, there's this new company called Fusionality, founded by Federico Felisi and Jonas Buckley. They just snag $3,700,000 in pre-seed funding. What they're doing is building control systems for fusion energy companies. Turns out, a lot of these fusion startups are spending mad time and resources building their own control systems from scratch, when really, 80. Percent of it is the same across the board. Fusionality is stepping in to provide that common foundation. These control systems are crucial because fusion reactors rely on super-heated plasma and keeping that plasma at the right temperature and shape. Requires incredibly fast decision-making. It's like trying to tame a wild beast, but with atoms. The founders met while working on AI for experimental fusion devices with Felici coming from EPFL and Google DeepMind and Bootsley also from Google. DeepMind, they saw this gap in the market and decided it was the perfect time to build out a specialized supply chain for the growing fusion industry.

1:04The human element here is pretty dope. Felici and Bruce Lee aren't just building tech. They're solving problems they personally experience while working in the fusion space. They spend years tackling the exact issues their future customers were facing. It's that kind of insight. That deep understanding of the pain points that often leads to the most successful ventures. They're not just guessing, they know the struggle. Now, they're focusing on magnetic confinement fusion, which uses powerful magnets to control the plasma. Think of companies like Commonwealth fusion systems and Proxima Fusion as examples in that space. Fusionality plans to develop a suite of control systems and simulation tools that these startups can then customize for their specific reactor. Designs. They're starting with a few core Lego blocks of technology and plans to expand from there. Aiming to cover a wide range of needs for operating A, Fusion reactor. The ambition is huge and this initial funding will help their team of seven develop those key technologies. Felici mentioned that while AI will play a role, it's not ready to take over the entire reactor control just yet.

2:14For now, AI will likely complement and optimize parts of the system. It's a smart phased approach to tackling a massive challenge in the quest for clean fusion energy. From the industry, powered by AI, this is Tech News Today. I'm Corey with The Story.