Tsinghua students are creating a fusion unicorn.

Investment Circle has learned that Starring Energy has completed a Series A+ financing round of 500 million RMB. The lineup of investors remains impressive, including institutions such as Fortune Capital, Jinpu Investment, Shanghai Shenneng Chengyi, Sunshine Ronghui Capital, Xingzheng Capital, Songqing Capital, Hongtai Fund, Sanyuan Capital, Jingming Capital, and Yinggang Capital. Existing investors from the Series A round, such as Feitu Venture Capital, continued to participate.

To date, Starring Energy has raised over 2 billion RMB in cumulative financing, and its valuation has exceeded 1 billion US dollars, officially entering the unicorn club.

Born out of the fusion laboratory at Tsinghua University, Starring Energy is helmed by two classmates, Chen Rui and Tan Yi. In 2021, they led a team into the field of controlled nuclear fusion and have since emerged as a phenomenon in the venture capital circle.

Chen Rui (left), CEO of Starring Energy, and Tan Yi (right), Chief Scientist of Starring Energy

Looking ahead, investors are vying for a ticket to the nuclear fusion race, and the day when humanity can "create a sun" may not be far off.

A Nuclear Fusion Unicorn is Born with Two Rounds of Financing in Four Months

Investors are lining up.

Back in June 2022, Starring Energy announced it had received hundreds of millions of RMB in angel - round financing. The investment was jointly made by Shunwei Capital, Kunlun Capital, Zhongke Chuangxing, Telescope Venture Capital, Harmony Partners, Sequoia China Seed Fund, Matrix Partners China, Nine Rivers Capital, Lenovo Star, Innoangel Fund, Yuanhe Origin, and Huafang Capital.

Subsequently, in March 2024, Starring Energy completed a Pre - A round of financing worth hundreds of millions of RMB. This round was led by Shanghai Intellectual Property Fund, with Huacheng Venture Capital following, and existing shareholders Zhongke Chuangxing and Harmony Partners continuing to invest.

Recalling this investment, Mi Lei, the founding partner of Zhongke Chuangxing, once told Investment Circle that Zhongke Chuangxing's consecutive investments were not only because it was optimistic about the company's technological concept and scarcity but also a strategic choice for Zhongke Chuangxing to layout the "future energy" landscape in the hard - tech ecosystem. "Starring Energy's rapid iteration, from the principle verification of 'from 0 to 1' to the future construction of the CTRFR - 1 device, precisely validates the concept I proposed that 'hard tech requires patient capital but also needs rapid engineering iteration'."

In 2026, the Series A financing came to light. In January this year, Starring Energy officially completed a Series A financing round of 1 billion RMB, breaking the single - round financing record for domestic private nuclear fusion enterprises:

The round was led by Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Group under Shanghai State - owned Investment Corporation and Shanghai Future Industry Fund, co - led by CICC Capital and Shanghai Jiading Science and Technology Investment Group. It also involved joint investments from institutions and individuals such as Bank of China Asset Management, Xichen Capital, Wuyuefeng Venture Capital, Longge Technology, Feitu Venture Capital, SAIC Financial, Shandong Energy Shanghai Yankuang Assets, CIMC Envirotech, Shangrong Capital, Yuanhe Puhua, Shenwan Hongyuan, Binfu Capital, and Zhenyi Assets. The Intellectual Property Fund under Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Group, the leading investor in the Pre - A round, continued to participate.

Now, the Series A+ financing has arrived. Fortune Capital stated that controlled nuclear fusion is a core future industry supporting carbon neutrality and energy independence, and the commercialization process has entered an accelerated window period. Fortune Capital is optimistic about the engineering advantages of the compact fusion route. Starring Energy, with its top - notch team, original high - temperature superconducting spherical tokamak technology, and clear commercialization path, has become a core force in the global private fusion first echelon. "We will fully support the company in promoting the construction of the first device and the implementation of the demonstration reactor, and jointly promote the breakthrough development of China's controlled nuclear fusion industry."

Jinpu Investment believes that the core team of Starring Energy has been deeply involved in the field of nuclear fusion for over two decades, accumulating profound theoretical and engineering experience. The company focuses on the spherical tokamak technology route and innovatively adopts a technical solution characterized by "magnetic reconnection heating" and "short - pulse repetitive operation", aiming to simultaneously achieve the miniaturization of the device and economic breakthroughs in construction and operation costs, thus taking a differentiated development path from traditional large - scale tokamak devices.

Shanghai Shenneng Chengyi emphasized that Starring Energy is an important investment layout in future energy. As a state - owned energy CVC in Shanghai, it will continue to accelerate the innovation and transformation of the energy system and contribute to making Shanghai a global innovation high - ground for fusion energy. "Starring Energy has demonstrated strong R & D capabilities and efficient engineering capabilities and is currently in the first echelon of Chinese commercial fusion companies in terms of technical parameters. We are very much looking forward to in - depth cooperation with Starring Energy to accelerate the commercialization process of nuclear fusion."

Two Tsinghua Classmates Join Hands to Kick - start Nuclear Fusion Commercialization

The rise of Starring Energy is inseparable from two Tsinghua alumni.

Chen Rui and Tan Yi, from Jiangxi and Hunan respectively, were admitted to the Department of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University in 1999 and became classmates. After graduating from undergraduate studies, Tan Yi continued to pursue a doctoral degree at Tsinghua and delved deep into nuclear fusion research. He later became an associate professor at the Department of Engineering Physics at Tsinghua University. Chen Rui went abroad for further studies and returned to China in 2014 to teach, becoming a professor at the School of Finance at Central University of Finance and Economics.

It wasn't until 2021 that Chen Rui and Tan Yi felt that the time was right for entrepreneurship. After multiple considerations, Starring Energy was officially established in October of that year, with Chen Rui serving as the CEO and Tan Yi as the Chief Scientist.

Specifically, the technical route adopted by Starring Energy is the compact repetitive reconnection controlled fusion technology based on the spherical tokamak. Compared with traditional tokamak fusion reactors, this solution features a small size and a simple structure, which can significantly reduce the construction cost of the fusion reactor.

It is reported that Starring Energy is currently advancing the "operation - construction - R & D" system of three generations of devices in parallel: SUNIST - 2 is in operation (in cooperation with Tsinghua University), NTST is under construction, and CTRFR - 1 is in the R & D stage.

Among them, Starring Energy's Shanghai experimental base is located in Xuhang Town, Jiading District, covering an area of about 25 mu, with a total construction area of 50,000 square meters. It is planned to have three functional sections: a device hall, a scientific research workshop, and a supporting service area. The base is planned to complete the main construction of the device room in the second half of 2026 and be fully completed and put into use in 2027. By then, it will become a leading domestic platform for fusion energy R & D and engineering verification.

Meanwhile, after the device room at the Jiading base is completed, the world's first negative - triangular spherical tokamak device, NTST, will also be installed on - site. It is expected to complete installation and commissioning within 2026 and reach the rated parameters in 2027.

It is worth mentioning that Starring Energy has the full - process R & D and manufacturing capabilities for high - temperature superconducting magnets. The self - developed TFMC (toroidal field coil) has a maximum size of 4 meters, which is a full - scale (non - scaled model) for a fusion reactor. This is the world's first high - temperature superconducting toroidal field magnet designed for a spherical tokamak. Different from the high - temperature superconducting magnets in the conventional tokamak route, due to the extremely compressed central column space in the spherical tokamak, the requirements for the engineering current density of the magnet are several times higher. The TFMC is designed and manufactured specifically for this extreme engineering requirement, and its technical difficulty is significantly higher than that of the conventional configuration. The supporting CSMC (central solenoid coil) is also being advanced in parallel, and both have entered the final testing and finalization stage. At the same time, the intelligent monitoring system for plasma diagnosis and the AI control algorithm based on deep learning are continuously being iterated, and it has initially developed the isoflux control ability, achieving a leap from 0 - dimensional global parameter control to 1 - dimensional fine - distribution control.

Globally, the commercialization of nuclear fusion is accelerating. A report from the International Atomic Energy Agency shows that at least 45 companies worldwide are pursuing fusion commercialization, and more than 160 fusion facilities are in operation, under construction, or in planning. In addition, the power purchase agreements of giants such as Google and Microsoft reflect the increasing confidence in the industry.

According to an analysis and prediction by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, global nuclear fusion power generation will jump from 2 terawatt - hours in 2035 to 375 terawatt - hours in 2050 and is expected to approach 25,000 terawatt - hours by 2100. Research indicates that with the surging demand for clean electricity, nuclear fusion could add trillions of dollars to the global GDP.

There is no doubt that nuclear fusion has entered a new industrial stage from a "distant scientific dream" to a stage where "engineering can be verified and capital can be allocated". Starring Energy adopts the repetitive reconnection spherical tokamak technology route, achieving efficient fusion through the compact configuration of the spherical tokamak and the repetitive magnetic reconnection heating mechanism. The company is also advancing the engineering transformation of key core technologies such as high - temperature superconducting magnets and AI plasma control, and promoting the commercialization path with the goal of an engineering demonstration reactor.

Starring Energy has independently developed and commercialized products based on the engineering requirements of SUNIST - 2 and NTST and has currently formed three product lines: pulse power supplies, signal conditioning equipment, and signal acquisition and sensing equipment. It is understood that the relevant products have been sold to universities and research institutions and have spill - over application potential in extreme - environment measurement scenarios such as aerospace and high - end equipment, initially establishing self - sustaining capabilities.

Undoubtedly, nuclear fusion is emerging from textbooks and science - fiction novels. Behind the continuously updated data in laboratories and with real - money investments, a new energy era is approaching rapidly.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Investment Circle" (ID: pedaily2012), written by Liu Bo and published by 36Kr with authorization.