星环聚能 (Startorus)

Startorus Fusion (星环聚能) is a Chinese commercial nuclear fusion company founded in October 2021 by Chen Rui and Tan Yi, both alumni of the Nuclear Fusion Laboratory at Tsinghua University's Department of Engineering Physics. The company focuses on developing compact spherical tokamak devices powered by a proprietary magnetic reconnection heating technology — an energy-efficient method that heats plasma through internal magnetic energy conversion rather than expensive external beam or wave systems. Startorus jointly constructed the SUNIST-2 spherical tokamak with Tsinghua University, which achieved a plasma current of 100 kiloamperes and ranks first in China and third globally among spherical tokamak devices by performance. The company's five-stage commercialization roadmap targets a demonstration fusion reactor capable of generating electricity around 2030, with the longer-term goal of making fusion power commercially viable. Backed by Shunwei Capital, Kunlun Capital, MSA Capital, and Bank of China among others, Startorus has raised over $140M through its Series A.