Fusion: The Holy Grail of energy with Heike Freund from Marvel Fusion

This episode goes deep into Fusion energy which is essentially the energy produced by the Sun.

Fusion makes SciFi become reality. If achieved, it could alter humankind forever. 

So we're glad to have one of the leading Fusion companies in Europe on the show.

Listen and Learn

• Heike’s transition from Big Consulting at McKinsey to a Fusion energy startup.
• Why Fusion is considered the Holy Grail of energy.
• Picture of the world running on Nuclear Fusion (how would it change transportation, food production, manufacturing, space travel).
• The actual level of maturity of Nuclear Fusion. How long before it hits commercial energy production?
• Marvel’s technological innovation (ex: Laser technology vs Magnetic).
• The economic perspective of Marvel: how they intend to make money.
• Europe’s place in the global race to Fusion energy.
• 30 fusion startups out of 35 globally are in the US. 
• Recently raised €35m from Earlybird, a generalist VC. Why they picked a generalist VC fund to lead their round rather than a dedicated Climate fund.
• Where will the billions of euros necessary to build a commercial prototype COME FROM.
• Why ITER is both a success and a failure.
• How to get a job in Fusion. Why Marvel is a great company to work for and the jobs they are hiring for. 

Show Links

• Website
• Linkedin
• Fusion energy could be a game changer in solving Europe’s energy crisis and enabling the road to net-zero World needs extra $1.3 tr energy investment by 2030 - JP Morgan
• The fusion industry made tremendous progress over the last 12 months with over $2 billion invested, the White House holding a Fusion Day in 2022 and the UK developing a governmental fusion strategy: Readout of the White House Summit on Developing a Bold Decadal Vision
• Largest fundraising rounds to date in Fusion:

1. Commonwealth Fusion Nuclear-Fusion Startup Lands $1.8 Billion as Investors Chase Star Power - WSJ 
2. Helion Energy Helion secures $2.2B to commercialize fusion energy – TechCrunch
3. General Fusion landing funding round from Jeff Bezos

• Commercial Fusion Energy | The White House
• Marvel Fusion pursues a new and more economically attractive fusion technology which promises a fast-track route to commercial application
• Marvel Fusion raised a €35m Series A led by Earlybird
• ITER news and funding updates and podcast to learn more about ITER
• Fusion Energy Breakthrough from UK JET laboratory in Oxford
• List of all Fusion organizations globally

Carveouts

• Listen to the TIL podcast (Today I learned Climate) from MIT to go deep on everything Fusion
• List of Top 14 Fusion startups in the world