Burda Invests in the Future of Energy

Burda Principal Investments (BPI) has joined the latest financing round of Proxima Fusion, marking the first investment in a fusion energy company for Burda’s international growth capital arm. The investment is the result of a long-standing relationship: well before this financing, BPI had been in close dialogue with the Munich-based deep-tech company, including through DLD Munich 25. 

Energy Becomes a Strategic Resource in the Age of AI 

Artificial intelligence is transforming not only business and society but also global energy demand. Data centres already consume more electricity than many countries, and the rapid growth of AI applications is accelerating that trend. Fusion is one of the few technologies with the potential to provide clean, dense, always-on power at the scale required to meet future demand. 

This is exactly where Proxima Fusion comes in. The Munich-based company is developing the technology for a commercial fusion power plant and plans to commission a net-energy demonstrator near Munich in the early 2030s. The facility is designed to demonstrate, for the first time, that a fusion reactor can produce more energy than it consumes. 

The €411 million financing round enables Proxima’s next stage of development and establishes the company as Europe’s best-funded fusion company. The round is led by XTX Ventures and East X Ventures, with RWE and Google participating as strategic investors alongside BPI and other international backers. 

A Partnership Built Over Time 

BPI’s investment marks the next step in a relationship that began several years ago. Long before the financing round, BPI was in regular exchange with Proxima Fusion co-founder and CEO Francesco Sciortino and his team. 

The first contact came through BPI’s close collaboration with UnternehmerTUM and its Xpreneurs programme. That relationship continued through DLD Munich 25, where Sciortino joined Christian Teichmann, CEO of BPI and Executive Board Member at Burda, on stage to discuss how a small team can drive breakthrough engineering in fusion. Later that year, Proxima Fusion was also featured in The Promptah, the magazine published jointly by DLD and BPI, as one of Europe's most promising deep-tech companies. 

“Fusion is one of the few technologies that can genuinely change the energy equation, and Proxima is building the industrial capability to get there, not just the theoretical science. We've followed the team closely since its early days, and their ability to convert a research breakthrough into a company that can attract capital at this scale, on a timeline measured in months rather than years, is exactly the kind of execution we look for."

Friedrich von Wulffen, Principal at BPI 

A Signal for Europe's Deep-Tech Future 

The financing comes at a time when Europe is racing with the United States and China to commercialise fusion technology. Proxima Fusion's approach—combining scientific leadership with industrial partnerships and public backing—is increasingly seen as a blueprint for how Europe can build sovereign capability in strategic energy technologies. 

“Europe is racing with the United States and China to get to the first fusion power plant. Proxima's financing demonstrates that Europe can not only invent breakthrough technologies, but also build globally competitive companies around them. We're glad to welcome Burda as a partner on this journey, and value the network and support they bring beyond capital.”

Francesco Sciortino, Co-Founder and CEO of Proxima Fusion

Since spinning out of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Proxima Fusion has raised more than €650 million, including €95 million in public grants, and grown to around 200 employees across Munich, Zurich and Oxford. With this latest financing, the company will accelerate construction of its demonstration facility while scaling its engineering capabilities and manufacturing operations.