sector · cluster

Energy & abundance

Drive the energy cost curve toward physics, not politics.

problems: 1humans affected: 8.1Bcompanies on it: 34capital sources: 12voices: 3

Cheap, clean, abundant energy is upstream of nearly every other quest — desalination, vertical farming, computation, transportation, and habitable climate all bottleneck on it. The frontier spans the full stack: solar + storage, advanced fission, fusion, transmission, and the grid software to make it dispatchable. Stephens' Founders Fund framing of 'good quests' anchors the e/acc lens here.

lead voice

Founders Fund · Choose Good Quests →

Problems in this sector

1 ranked

hard techEnergy abundance

Produce clean, cheap, dispatchable energy at civilizational scale, fusion, advanced fission, geothermal.

humans8.1B

Companies on it

34 mapped →

Commonwealth Fusion Systemsprivate

High-temperature superconducting tokamak (SPARC, ARC). Aiming for commercial fusion energy by early 2030s.

$9.0B

Helion Energyprivate

Pulsed, aneutronic fusion with direct electricity conversion. Signed 50MW PPA with Microsoft targeting 2028.

$5.4B

Fervo Energyprivate

Enhanced geothermal using horizontal drilling from oil & gas. Operating commercial pilot in Nevada.

$1.4B

Kairos Powerprivate

Advanced fission reactors using molten-salt coolant. Construction permit issued; Google PPA for 500MW.

private · no disclosed cap

Oklopublic

Microreactor developer (Aurora). Fast-spectrum fission using recycled nuclear fuel.

$9.0B

X-energyprivate

High-temperature gas-cooled SMR. Amazon deal for 5GW+; TRISO fuel fabrication facility under construction.

private · no disclosed cap

TAE Technologiesprivate

Aneutronic fusion via field-reversed configuration (p-B11 fuel). Backed by Google, NEA, Vulcan. Cancer-therapy spinout TAE Life Sciences.

$3.0B

Tokamak Energyprivate

Compact spherical tokamak with high-temperature superconducting magnets. ST40 device hit 100M °C ion temperature in 2022.

private · no disclosed cap

General Fusionprivate

Magnetized target fusion — plasma compressed by mechanically-driven liquid metal liner. LM26 demonstration plant in Richmond, BC.

private · no disclosed cap

Zap Energyprivate

Sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion. No magnets or lasers — uses a column of plasma to confine itself. FuZE-Q device achieved fusion plasma in 2023.

private · no disclosed cap

First Light Fusionprivate

Inertial fusion via projectile-driven target compression. Spun out of Oxford. Demonstrated fusion in 2022.

private · no disclosed cap

Marvel Fusionprivate

Laser-driven inertial fusion using nano-structured targets. Partnered with Colorado State for a $150M test facility.

private · no disclosed cap