# Francesco Sciortino, Co-Founder & CEO of Proxima Fusion: Building the critical power infrastructure for clean energy

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/scaling-europe-7780754/francesco-sciortino-co-founder-ceo-of-proxima-fusion-building-the-critical-power-infrastructure-for-clean-energy
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/scaling-europe-7780754/francesco-sciortino-co-founder-ceo-of-proxima-fusion-building-the-critical-power-infrastructure-for-clean-energy.md
Podcast: [Scaling Europe](https://stenobird.com/podcast/scaling-europe-7780754)
Published: 2026-07-16T09:42:16+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/scaling-europe/episodes/Francesco-Sciortino--Co-Founder--CEO-of-Proxima-Fusion-Building-the-critical-power-infrastructure-for-clean-energy-e3m2prh
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/108a8a74c/podcast/play/122823985/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-6-14%2F427942219-44100-2-39e2d7fa1c6fe.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/scaling-europe-7780754/episodes/francesco-sciortino-co-founder-ceo-of-proxima-fusion-building-the-critical-power-infrastructure-for-clean-energy
Duration seconds: 1446

## Resource

Proxima Fusion recently raised €411m at a €2.4bn valuation, the largest funding round in European fusion. The company is building a fusion reactor designed to produce clean, safe energy continuously, without the risk of a runaway reaction. Francesco Sciortino is Co-Founder and CEO of Proxima Fusion. The company has around 200 people working across Munich, Zurich and Oxford. Proxima's next milestone is a full-scale magnet that will prove the reactor design works, expected by the end of 2027. The Scaling Europe show is presented by Deel. Check them out here: https://get.deel.com/ruynb7o4lfjk Sponsors: Chargebee: https://www.chargebee.com/events/beelieve/london/2026 SurrealDB: https://surrealdb.com/ Airwallex: https://www.airwallex.com/uk?utm_source=other&utm_medium=partner_referral&utm_campaign=v01_emea_multi_ib_dg_prtmk_mofu_scalingeurope Lovable: https://lovable.dev/ Timestamps: 0:00 - Introduction 0:09 - Proxima Fusion's €411m raise 0:50 - What fusion actually is 4:04 - Why Proxima bets on stellarators over tokamaks 9:29 - What's changed to bring investors on board 11:42 - Inside the Bavarian government partnership 16:12 - The next milestone: the Stellarator Model Coil 18:29 - Publishing the Stellaris power plant design 20:38 - Supply chain risk for fusion magnets

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