A Japanese venture firm that is developing nuclear fusion technology has received nearly 77 million dollars in investments from 17 companies.
Researchers, mainly from Kyoto University's Institute of Advanced Energy, founded Kyoto Fusioneering to develop next-generation energy sources. The company is planning to build the world's first prototype plant for power generation using the technology.
Nuclear fusion is a reaction that occurs inside the sun. Artificially inducing the reaction could generate massive amounts of energy without producing carbon dioxide or high-level radioactive waste.
The venture firm announced that it had raised a total of 10.5 billion yen from 17 companies, including government-backed JIC Venture Growth Investments, major trading houses Mitsubishi and Mitsui, and one firm from the Kansai Electric Power Company group.
Kyoto Fusioneering says it will use the funds to employ a larger number of engineers to speed up research and development. It also says it will boost its business overseas.