Munich-based startup Proxima Fusion has completed its pre-seed fundraising of €7m ($7.5m) for the manufacture of a revolutionary fusion energy machine.

The company, which was founded only this year, will deploy a nuclear fusion device known as a stellarator with the plant due to come online within in 2030s.

A stellarator is an alternative to a tokamak device. Both form an electromagnetic cage around plasma or high-energy ionised matter, bringing it to temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius. The atomic nuclei then fuse, releasing energy. According to the company, this “is the process that powers the stars”.