Eager to advance AI development, major American technology companies are proving more eager than ever to bet on unproven energy technologies. This could be good news for Australian startups.
HB11 Energy is Australia’s first nuclear start-up. After five years of research and development to test whether the approach works, COO Greg Ainsworth said they are now raising a seed round to develop the technology at scale. Ta.
Seed rounds for startups typically range from $1 million to $5 million. “It’s not fusion,” Ainsworth told Capital Brief a few days after returning from a trip to Japan and the UAE to speak to potential investors. “We are raising tens of millions of US dollars.”
Today’s nuclear power plants use nuclear fission to split atoms, but fusion proposes the opposite. In short, fusion of atomic nuclei creates an explosion of heat, which in turn produces energy. The Sydney-based startup uses a laser to fuse hydrogen and boron-11 atoms, triggering the chemical reaction that gives it its name. Ainsworth said the money raised will be used to develop the laser, the hydrogen and boron fuel pellets it fires, and a manufacturing facility to manufacture both.
