Type One's stellarator bet: Tennessee issues first fusion license, Infinity One due 2029

Type One Energy develops stellarator fusion power plants: it plans Infinity One, the first commercial-scale stellarator prototype, and Infinity Two, a 350 MWe plant, selling its technology to TVA and other power providers.

That a stellarator, a twisted steady-state design long dismissed as too complex, can be licensed and built — Type One sells technology to utilities, not plants.

$82.5M seed extended round (2023–2024) with Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Doral Energy-Tech Ventures and TDK Ventures; $87M convertible note (Jan 2026) brings venture funding past $160M; $250M Series B in progress at a $900M pre-money valuation

Type One Energy raised a $29M seed round in 2023 that grew to $82.5M by 2024 with backing from Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, and began working with the Tennessee Valley Authority in February 2024 on placing its first power plant at the former Bull Run fossil plant in Clinton, Tennessee — an 865 MW coal plant retired in December 2023.

In September 2025 TVA issued a Letter of Intent to develop and build Infinity Two, a first-generation 350 MWe baseload stellarator plant with construction starting as early as 2028, after Type One completed the first formal design review in May 2025. In January 2026 Type One submitted a first-of-a-kind byproduct material licence application to Tennessee regulators, and TechCrunch reported an $87M convertible note raising total venture funding past $160M, with a $250M Series B in progress at a $900M pre-money valuation. On August 30, 2026, Tennessee's Department of Environment and Conservation issued the state's first fusion-specific license under its new framework, with construction of the first phase of Project Infinity expected to begin in 2026.

Still running: the first fusion-specific state license is secured and first-phase construction is expected in 2026, but no fusion plant has yet been built and final Infinity Two funding still requires TVA board approval.

Stellarators hold plasma in steady state without the current-drive problems of tokamaks, so Type One bet the design can jump from experimental machines to a commercial plant.

Tennessee's decision to license fusion at the state level created a first-mover regulatory path, and Type One wrote the first application under it with TVA's backing.

Selling technology to utilities instead of building and owning plants lightens the balance sheet, but it depends on a customer committing to a first-of-a-kind 350MW buildout.

Sequencing — Infinity One prototype by 2029, Infinity Two in the mid-2030s — lets investors fund milestones rather than one giant plant and gives regulators experience first.

First-mover licensing can secure state approval and a utility partner before a machine exists — but stellarator physics and a 350MW first-of-a-kind buildout remain a long, capital-heavy bet.

As of 2026-09-02, Type One holds the first fusion-specific license issued by Tennessee (Aug 30, 2026), with first-phase construction of Project Infinity at TVA's Bull Run site expected to begin in 2026. Infinity One, billed as the first commercial-scale stellarator, is targeted for commissioning in 2029; TVA's Letter of Intent covers Infinity Two, a 350 MWe plant, with construction as early as 2028 and full startup around 2034, subject to TVA board approval. Venture funding exceeds $160M, with a $250M Series B at a $900M pre-money valuation in progress. No fusion plant has yet been built.