Avalanche Energy
🇺🇸 Seattle, US · Founded 2018 · Active
Avalanche Energy is a Seattle start-up developing the Orbitron, a compact fusion machine in which fast ions are held by electric fields in looping orbits around a negatively charged cathode. It says the Orbitron is aimed at 1 to 100 kWe of power, small enough to sit on a desk, and that in the nearer term it sells high-energy neutrons for materials testing, space science and defence. The company says its device Jyn has measured apparent ion temperatures above 1 keV, about 11 million °C. It has closed a $29 million equity round led by RA Capital, and separately won a $10 million Washington State grant and a $5.2 million DARPA contract; it says the equity round is mainly for scaling FusionWERX, its fusion test facility in Richland, Washington.
- Sector
- Fusion
- Technology
- Inertial electrostatic confinement
- Fuel
- Deuterium–deuterium
- Role
- Fusion developer
Its recorded equity, $45m, is the 22nd largest of the 25 organisations with a priced round here. Not every round is on record, so this is not its total raised.
Terms
- Inertial electrostatic confinement
- Electric fields rather than magnetic ones confine the ions. Simple to build and well proven as a neutron source; net energy is a different matter.
- Deuterium–deuterium
- Deuterium only. Needs far higher temperature than D-T, but the fuel is abundant in seawater and no tritium breeding is required. It is not neutron-free: about half of D-D reactions release a 2.45 MeV neutron, and the tritium made by the other half can fuse in turn, releasing 14.1 MeV neutrons.
Funding
- 2026-02-03Convertible note or SAFE$29 million announced 3 February 2026, led by RA Capital Management, with existing investors including Founders Fund, Lowercarbon Capital and Toyota Ventures. The release gives no round name. The SEC Form D for this offering ($29,218,480 sold, first sale 23 December 2025) reports the security only as an option or right to acquire another security, not as equity, which is how SAFE-type instruments are filed; it is therefore segmented as convertible, not priced equity. The release says the money provides the private match for the Washington State grant.$29m
- 2025-07-23Grant$10 million grant from the Washington State Department of Commerce, announced 23 July 2025, for the FusionWERX neutron-source facility. The February 2026 release says the $29 million raise provides the grant's private match. This is the award as announced; disbursement is not reported.$10m
- 2022-08Equity round · Series ASeries A of $40 million led by Lowercarbon Capital, with Founders Fund and Toyota Ventures. The company release carries no date; the date recorded is the first sale on the SEC Form D (12 August 2022) for a $40,000,004 offering.$40m
- 2021-06Equity round · SeedSeed round of $5 million led by Prime Impact Fund, per the Series A release. The date is the first sale on the SEC Form D (2 June 2021), which reports $5,131,980 sold.$5m