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Zap Energy

Zap Energy

🇺🇸 Everett, US · Founded 2017 · Active

Zap Energy is a US company in Everett, Washington, spun out of University of Washington research in 2017 with collaboration from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Its fusion approach is the sheared-flow-stabilised Z-pinch, in which an electric current squeezes a column of plasma while layers of plasma flowing at different speeds suppress the instabilities that limited earlier Z-pinches. Its devices include FuZE, FuZE-Q and the Century platform, and in 2024 it reported electron temperatures of 1 to 3 keV (about 11 to 37 million °C). In April 2026 it added fission, announcing a 10 MWe sodium-cooled microreactor based on the 4S design of Toshiba and Japan's Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry, and named Zabrina Johal chief executive. Its investors include Chevron, Shell and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

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Sector
Fusion, Fission
Technology
Z-pinch, Sodium fast reactor
Fuel
Deuterium–tritium
Role
Fusion developer, Reactor developer

It is the operator of record for FUZE-Q (operating) and FuZE. Measured results for FuZE are listed below.

Its recorded equity, $315m, is the 11th largest of the 25 organisations with a priced round here. Not every round is on record, so this is not its total raised.

It also holds one award or agreement with no cash figure, which is not added to any total.

Terms

Z-pinch
A current driven straight through a plasma column, whose own magnetic field squeezes it inward. Long set aside as unstable; sheared-flow stabilisation, studied at the University of Washington and pursued commercially by Zap Energy, renewed work on it.
Sodium fast reactor
Liquid sodium coolant with a fast, unmoderated neutron spectrum. Sodium carries heat superbly at atmospheric pressure, but burns in air and reacts violently with water. Large sodium-cooled cores can have a positive sodium void effect that the core design must offset. Fuel is typically metal alloy or mixed-oxide.
Deuterium–tritium
Lowest ignition threshold; 80% of energy in 14.1 MeV neutrons. The reference fuel for every near-term net-gain claim.

Funding

$315m
equity in the 3 rounds recorded here
1
commitment with no cash figure
  1. 2024-10-09
    Equity round · Series D
    Series D of $130 million announced 9 October 2024, led by Soros Fund Management (no organisation record yet). Breakthrough Energy Ventures is named among existing investors participating. SEC Form D reports $129,997,713 sold, first sale 15 July 2024.
    $130m
  2. 2023-05
    Milestone-based award
    DOE Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program
    Unpriced
  3. 2022-06
    Equity round · Series C
    Series C of $160 million announced 22 June 2022, led by Lowercarbon Capital (no organisation record yet).
    $160m
  4. 2021-04
    Equity round
    Equity offering reported on SEC Form D: $25,249,943 sold of a $27,500,000 offering at filing, first sale 20 April 2021. The Form D does not name the round, so no round label is recorded; the amount is a minimum.
    $25m

Results

Devices

FUZE-QZ-pinchOperatingNo figures yetFuZEZ-pinch1 figure on record

People

  • Zabrina JohalChief Executive Officer
  • Benj ConwayPresident · founder

Related companies

Sources