Helion closes at $500M, Hyundai joins CFS, Trump Media files for TAE

Three private fusion financings moved between July 30 and October 2, 2026, adding to Type One Energy's $200 million Series B on October 6. Two are equity rounds that picked up money or a name after they were announced. The third is a merger whose paperwork also opened the door to a $100 million loan draw. Our fusion energy reference page keeps the running record.

Helion closes its Series G at $500 million

Helion closed its Series G at $500 million in September 2026, up from the $465 million initial close it announced on June 4, 2026. The company posted the news as an update at the top of its June release, which calls the round oversubscribed and adds: "The funding was capped despite additional investor interest." Thrive Capital led. At the $465 million mark, Helion said the round valued it at $15.5 billion post-money and brought total investment in the Everett, Washington company to $1.5 billion. New investors included Lux Capital, Peak XV Partners and Ford executive chairman Bill Ford; returning investors included SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Helion's first plant, Orion, is under construction in Malaga, Washington. On June 16 Helion said it had received two licenses for Orion from the Washington Department of Health, a Radioactive Materials License and a Radioactive Air Emissions License, and called itself the first company in the world to hold the licenses needed for a fusion power plant. Next, by Helion's account, is the generator building, where initial earthwork began in the spring of 2026.

Helion has announced a $500 million close before. Its Series E, closed on November 5, 2021 and led by Sam Altman, was meant to finish the Polaris prototype, which Helion then planned to use to demonstrate net electricity in 2024. The June release credits Polaris with being the first privately funded fusion machine to run on deuterium-tritium fuel and with a company-record plasma temperature above 150 million °C.

Hyundai joins Commonwealth Fusion Systems' $1 billion round

Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) announced $1 billion of additional equity on July 30, 2026, which it calls the largest single funding round among fusion companies worldwide since its own $1.8 billion Series B in 2021. The raise brings CFS to $4 billion in total, about 30 percent of the capital the fusion industry has raised to date by the company's count. The release names no lead investor. It describes the new backers as institutional investors including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, infrastructure investors and industrial corporate partners.

On September 10 CFS put a name to one of the industrial backers: Hyundai Motor Group, which "became an investor during the company's recent $1 billion fundraise." CFS gave no amount. It called the investment the first step in a partnership to explore collaboration on future ARC power plants.

CFS says the money will speed its path to commercialization while it completes assembly of its SPARC demonstration machine and develops its first ARC power plant at the Fall Line Fusion Power Station in Chesterfield County, Virginia, which it says is on track to put power on the grid in the early 2030s. Google and Eni, both CFS investors, have signed agreements to buy more than half of that plant's power.

TAE and Trump Media file their merger registration

TAE Technologies, the Foothill Ranch, California fusion developer, now has its merger with Trump Media on file at the SEC. Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) filed a Form S-4 registration statement for the all-stock deal on September 30, 2026; the two agreed to combine on December 18, 2025. TMTG shareholders and TAE stockholders would each own about 50% of the combined company on a fully diluted basis. The registration has not yet become effective: TMTG's most recent filing as of October 8, an October 2 delaying amendment, holds the effective date until a further amendment or an SEC determination. Either side may terminate the agreement if the merger has not closed by December 18, 2026, unless its own breach was the primary cause; the S-4 says the companies expect to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.

The filing also moved money. TMTG lent TAE $200 million in December 2025 alongside the merger agreement, and under the convertible note they amended and restated on September 30, per TMTG's Form 8-K, the S-4 filing opened a window in which TAE may draw up to $100 million more, in requests of at least $50 million unless TMTG agrees otherwise. The window closes on November 29, 2026, or earlier if the merger agreement is terminated. The note carries 7% interest paid in kind, and $10.97 million of interest had accrued by September 30.

TAE needs the capital, by the S-4's own account. It had $114.3 million in cash and cash equivalents on June 30, 2026, down from $151.9 million on March 31, and its total operating expenses for the three months to June 30 were $34.9 million. The filing says its recurring losses, negative operating cash flows and continuing capital needs raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. If TAE cannot raise capital or enter into alternative arrangements when needed, the S-4 says, it "may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue its development of the planned Da Vinci prototype power plant." TMTG interim chief executive Kevin McGurn put it more brightly in the companies' September 30 joint release: "Today's filing is a key step toward closing this merger and providing capital to fund TAE's development of commercial fusion power."