December 1, 2021

JIMCO Technology Fund announces major participation in US$ 1.8 billion Series B funding round for Commonwealth Fusion Systems

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This strategic investment accelerates commercialization of fusion energy to provide the world with limitless sustainable power
CFS is on track to demonstrate net energy from fusion by 2025 and reach commercialization of fusion energy by the early 2030s
Investment continues JIMCO support of innovative breakthrough technologies that will positively shape the future of core industries driving the global economy

Cambridge, MA, USA & Monaco – December 1, 2021:

JIMCO Technology Fund, part of JIMCO, the Jameel Family’s global investment arm, participated with a major investment in Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) as it today announced closing its Series B funding round raising over US$ 1.8 billion to commercialize fusion energy.

Since being founded in 2018, as a spinout from MIT, CFS has been developing High-Temperature Superconducting (HTS) magnets and is building the world’s first net-energy-gain fusion system.

“This groundbreaking HTS magnet was the culmination of three years of work that paved the way for commercial fusion energy,” said Bob Mumgaard, Chief Executive Officer, CFS.

“The world is ready to make big investments in commercial fusion as a key part of the global energy transition. This diverse group of investors includes a spectrum of capital from energy and technology companies to venture capitalists, hedge funds, and university endowments who believe in the impact fusion will have as we look for large scale solutions to decarbonize.

We are delighted to include the participation and strategic investment by the Jameel Family, through the JIMCO Technology Fund which enables us to accelerate our commercialization path toward that day.”

CFS’ HTS magnet technology enables significantly stronger magnetic fields in a fusion device called a ‘tokamak’, existing versions of which rely on the scale of the device to attempt net energy. HTS magnets support a high-field approach that will enable CFS to reach net energy from fusion with a substantially smaller, lower cost device and on a faster timeline. This HTS magnet technology will be used in SPARC, now under construction in Devens, Massachusetts and on track to demonstrate net energy from fusion by 2025.

SPARC will pave the way for the first commercially viable fusion power plant called ARC. “This offers the fastest path to commercialization of clean fusion energy,” explains Mumgaard “we appreciate investment partners such as JIMCO who share a common view of a sustainable energy future and its role in mitigating climate change.”

Fady Jameel, a member of the Jameel Family’s Investment Supervisory Board strongly emphasized that: “It is critical that private investors cultivate close, collaborative relationships with research scientists and universities. The Jameel Family has nurtured our relationships with MIT, and others, supporting innovative thinking and development of emergent technologies towards solutions aiming to address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.”

“This investment in CFS is a step towards a more sustainable future for everyone demonstrating how ‘patient capital’, particularly from family investors, can show leadership in enabling transformational change by championing opportunities for business in the new green-tech economy . . . ” Fady continued.

CFS’s path to commercial fusion energy:

2018: Company founded based on decades of MIT fusion research supported by US$ 200 million in US DOE funding
2020: Published a series of peer reviewed publications in Journal of Plasma Physics that verifies SPARC will achieve net energy from fusion (Q>10)
2021: Started construction on fusion campus to host SPARC building, manufacturing facility, and company headquarters
2021: In collaboration with MIT, built and successfully demonstrated groundbreaking high temperature superconducting magnets, the strongest of their kind and the key technology
2025: SPARC achieves commercially relevant net energy from fusion
Early 2030s: First fusion power plant, called ARC, is completed

CFS has raised more than US$ 2 billion in funding since it was founded in 2018.

Notes to Editors

About Fusion Energy

You can learn more about fusion energy in these videos:

What is Fusion, © courtesy JIMCO and CFS
A Star in a Bottle: The Quest for Commercial Fusion, © courtesy of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
Fusion Power Explained, © courtesy of https://kurzgesagt.org

About JIMCO

JIMCO (the Abdul Latif Jameel Investment Management Company) is the Jameel Family’s global investment arm, consolidating under one name an established Jameel Family tradition of investing in innovative ideas and businesses promising positive change that stretches back to, at least, the early 1980s. Today, JIMCO is an active global investor in innovative, early-stage and breakthrough ventures, business models and emergent technologies, aiming to positively shape the future of core industries driving the global economy.

These investments are diverse and embrace medical and healthcare industries, fintech, insurtech, electric vehicles and future mobility solutions, and the future of energy, amongst others, and are made in carefully selected and targeted funds and also in fledgling businesses, but all have a common focus in the pursuit of a more sustainable tomorrow.

JIMCO comprises a number of independent legal entities, there are three primary fund brands:

The JIMCO Technology Fund – focusing on venture building, both through select, targeted funds and direct investments.
The JIMCO Life Sciences Fund – focusing on both direct and fund investments in life sciences, biotech and health care, from pharmaceuticals, therapeutics, vaccines and diagnostics to cutting-edge medical device technologies and techniques, and
The JIMCO Strategic Asset Fund – focusing on forward-thinking fund with a clear, aligned, long-term vision, with relevant sector specialization from sustainability initiatives, to drivers of global energy transformation towards renewable, sustainable and clean sources of power.

For more information, visit jimco.com, and our brand video here or contact: info@jimco.com for general inquiries or media@jimco.com for press inquiries(GMT +4 hours UAE.

About Commonwealth Fusion Systems

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) is on track to bring fusion energy technology to market. CFS was spun out of MIT and combines the decades of research experience of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center with the innovation and speed of the private sector. Supported by the world’s leading investors in breakthrough energy technologies, CFS is uniquely positioned to deliver the fastest path to commercial fusion energy.

For more information, please contact Kristen Cullen, Kristen@cfs.energy

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