[Weekly] Proxima vs CFS: Fusion’s Race | The New Capital Stack | OpenAI Needs a Power Plant

Update: 2025-09-26

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Brought to you by:

D-CRBN - a Belgian startup turning industrial CO₂ emissions into valuable feedstock using cutting-edge plasma technology. If you want to learn more, reach out directly to David Ziegler or Gill Scheltjens.

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This week on New Wave Weekly: change is no longer a scientific forecast.

👉 Fusion Energy: Is It Around The Corner?

Proxima Fusion raises $200M, U.S. players pull in mega-rounds up to $900M… and suddenly everyone’s bullish. But is fusion coming in 2030, or 2100? Game-changing tech or just another beautiful mirage?

👉 The capital stack goes creative

Grants, debt, PPAs, infra equity, climate finance is finally evolving beyond pure VC. But who’s funding $100M FOAK projects? And where are all the climate-native CFOs?

👉 OpenAI x Oracle, $300B and 4.5 GW

One AI deal = 4 nuclear reactors. As data centers suck up grid capacity, could the compute boom drag climate tech into the fast lane?

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References:

FT: Europe’s fusion race heats up with billions in funding

TechCrunch: CFS books $1B power deal for its future reactor

TechCrunch: Google inks its first fusion power deal with CFS

LinkedIn: Proxima Fusion extends its Series A

CTVC: Fusion roundup — big rounds, big deals

CFS: CFS raises $863M Series B2 to accelerate commercialization

Sifted: SunSave raises $113M to expand solar subscriptions

WSJ: OpenAI and Oracle sign $300B computing deal

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Wave Makers:

Hampus Jakobsson - Pale Blue Dot

Matthew Blain - Voyager Ventures

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Chapters:

(00:00 ) Introduction

(01:12 ) Is Fusion Happening?

(28:31 ) The Creative Capital Stack

(42:20 ) A Deal That Needs 4.5GW

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