Benchtop Laser Fusion Reactors

Cambridge Heavy Industries raised a $6.2 million seed round, led by Azolla Ventures, to advance a benchtop fusion reactor that compresses a fuel target with lasers while using far fewer lasers than other inertial confinement designs. The compact module can run 50 to 80 shots per day, and the data feeds AI-driven simulations that optimize the design.

The brand concept grew out of MIT research using laser pulses to study materials under extreme conditions. In about a decade, the company plans to build a power plant roughly the size of two basketball courts. Before then, it plans to use its smaller devices to produce tritium, a rare hydrogen isotope that most fusion plants will need.

Cambridge Heavy signals that small, fast-iterating reactors could generate early revenue while the larger technology matures.