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Two fusion leaders take the stage at Disrupt 2026
Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Helion are racing to put fusion-generated electricity on the grid. Their founders will discuss the breakthroughs and challenges ahead at TechCrunch Disrupt.
In brief
Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Helion are racing to put fusion-generated electricity on the grid. Their founders will discuss the breakthroughs and challenges ahead at TechCrunch Disrupt. Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Helion leaders will speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 about moving fusion from scientific progress…
Two fusion companies race to the grid
Commonwealth Fusion Systems is building SPARC, a demonstration machine for its first commercial power plant, ARC. Helion is developing Orion, a fifty-megawatt fusion power plant intended to supply electricity to Microsoft beginning in twenty twenty-eight.
Brandon Sorbom leads CFS toward commercial fusion
Brandon Sorbom co-founded Commonwealth Fusion Systems in twenty eighteen with the goal of commercializing fusion energy to help combat climate change. As chief science officer, he leads the company's scientific direction and R and D.
CFS applies to connect to the grid
In April, Commonwealth Fusion Systems became the first fusion company to apply to PJM Interconnection, the largest U.S. wholesale electricity market. This is a necessary step toward eventually connecting ARC to the grid.
CFS raises one billion dollars
In July, Commonwealth Fusion Systems raised another one billion dollars, bringing its total funding to four billion dollars. The funding supports the company's work toward ARC through its SPARC demonstration machine.
David Kirtley founded Helion for commercial fusion
David Kirtley founded Helion to develop fusion technology that could deliver electricity at commercial scale. An NSF and NASA Advanced Concepts Fellow, he has expertise in high-beta plasmas for energy and space propulsion applications.
Helion heats plasma to record temperature
In February, Helion announced that its Polaris prototype had heated plasma to one hundred fifty million degrees Celsius. The company is now developing Orion to deliver commercial fusion power.
Helion reaches regulatory milestone and closes funding
In June, Helion announced a key regulatory milestone on the path to building and operating Orion. Its Series G funding round, initially announced at four hundred sixty-five million dollars in June, closed at five hundred million dollars in September.
Sorbom and Kirtley speak at Disrupt October thirteen to fifteen
Brandon Sorbom and David Kirtley will take the Smart Systems Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt twenty twenty-six in San Francisco to discuss breakthroughs moving fusion forward, remaining challenges, and what it will take to deliver fusion power to the grid at scale.
Disrupt brings together ten thousand tech leaders
TechCrunch Disrupt takes place October thirteen to fifteen at Moscone West in San Francisco. More than ten thousand founders, investors, operators, and tech leaders are expected, along with two hundred fifty plus speakers and three hundred plus exhibiting startups.
What to remember
Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Helion leaders will speak at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 about moving fusion from scientific progress to commercial power on the grid.
