The Realta Fusion and ARPA-E team at the WHAM facilities in 2023. (Photo: DOE/ARPA-E)
TitletownTech, a venture capital firm formed out of a partnership between Microsoft and the Green Bay Packers, has invested in Realta Fusion, a private fusion startup company that was spun out of an ARPA-E-funded fusion project at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2022. Realta is developing modular, compact, magnetic mirror fusion energy generators as an economic, zero-carbon solution to power AI-driven infrastructure and other industrial applications. TitletownTech did not disclose the details of its investment.
Based in Madison, Wis., Realta Fusion is led by cofounder and chief executive officer Kieran Furlong and cofounder and chief scientific officer Cary Forest. Previously, the company received $9 million in seed funding in May 2023 from Khosla Ventures and is an awardee of the Department of Energy’s Milestone Fusion Program.
“Fusion energy is not just an exciting possibility, it’s a necessary part of our energy future,” said TitletownTech managing partner Craig Dickman. “Realta stands at the intersection of clean energy innovation and the growing energy demands of AI, showcasing how Wisconsin can lead in creating solutions to global challenges. We’re thrilled to partner with Kieran, Cary, and the Realta team as they chart their path forward.”
WHAM: The basis for Realta’s technology is the Wisconsin High-field Axisymmetric Mirror (WHAM) project, which operates as a public-private partnership between the company and UW–Madison.
In July 2024, Realta announced that, in partnership with university researchers, it had successfully applied the highest steady magnetic field ever reached in a fusion plasma experiment in a “major milestone towards commercial fusion energy.” At the time, Realta said WHAM formed and held a plasma with a magnetic field strength of 17 Tesla on the confined plasma in the first use of high-temperature superconductor magnets in a magnetic mirror configuration. Commonwealth Fusion Systems designed and manufactured the superconducting magnets.
The WHAM project has received over $10 million from the DOE’s ARPA-E division, along with contributions from the University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, and other partners.
Quote: “Our mission at Realta is to deliver clean energy solutions that are both scalable and practical,” said Realta’s Furlong. “The support from TitletownTech and others not only validates our approach but also provides us with the strategic resources needed to address one of AI’s biggest challenges: energy consumption.”
