What happened: General Fusion announced plans to go public via SPAC, becoming the first publicly-traded company focused solely on fusion energy.

Special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) thrived in 2021-2, offering a fast lane to a public listing for companies like General Fusion who don’t have the revenue numbers to go public on their own but need capital to continue developing their tech.

The details: General Fusion is trying to unlock fusion energy - a process that fuses atoms together (rather than splitting them apart as in nuclear fission), the same process that creates energy in the sun.

The company is pursuing Magnetized Target Fusion, which it believes can produce fusion energy at a lower cost compared to competing pathways like Tokamaks, plasma or laser-based systems.

But the path to actually producing electricity is a long one. Fusion is one of those technologies that been “10 years away” for decades. Companies need to create plasma fuels, contain it, compress it and then sustain a reaction. Startups and labs are making progress on these milestones but a fully functioning fusion plant is far from being built.

General Fusion has secured more than $600M in funding for this mission, but ran into a funding crunch early last year. It raised over $80M to keep operating - but with an expectation from investors to go public.

Why it matters: Climate tech exits have been few and far between in recent years. The SPAC gives investors an exit and a much-needed cash infusion for the company to hit technical milestones.

General Fusion’s listing could be a proof point for other fusion developers and help close the missing middle for other fusion and capital-intensive hardware companies - the critical capital after early stage investors, but before infrastructure investors are ready to step in.

Not so simple: Public markets bring their own risks, and while SPACs are making a comeback, they have a spotty track record. A rush of SPACs created exits for climate tech startups, but ultimately under-performed. Stocks had dropped 70% by 2023. Going public also brings more pressure:

The bottom line: General Fusion’s SPAC could help close the “missing middle” gap, but will need to weather the public market’s appetite for venture-style risk and long development timelines.

♻ Cyclic Materials (Toronto, ON) closed $103 million in Series C funding to expand its rare earths recycling tech. The raise was led by accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates and with the Canada Growth Fund and existing investors.

🥵 Jetson (Vancouver, BC) raised a $69 million Series A to expand its electric heat pumps across North America. US-based Eclipse Capital led the round.

🏢 Miru (Vancouver, BC) secured a strategic investment from speciality materials company Mativ Holdings to support commercial production of its smart window tech.

🏭 CHAR Technologies (Toronto, ON) secured $10 million from BMI Group to advance a biocarbon facility at a former pulp and paper mill in Espanola, Ontario.

🌊 CarbonRun generated the world’s first River Alkalinity Enhancement credits from its Kvina River project in Norway - a major milestone for a CDR pathway with potential to heal river acidification and remove carbon at scale.

🥡 Friendlier will pilot its reusable containers across 34 schools in Nova Scotia, avoiding single use containers for 26,000 lunches a week.

🌊 Ocean Startup Project named three winners to its early-stage Amplify competition, including REPWR (modular solar) and Lillianah Technologies (algae-based water filtration).

🌾 Charm Industrial is gearing up to launch biochar projects in Canada following a 10 year, 44,000 tonne purchase from TD Bank, citing supportive policy, abundant biomass inputs and CO2 storage sites.

🏗 Innovate BC announce funding for pilot projects at the province’s ports and airports, including Hydra Energy’s hydrogen fuelling station and Charza’s tap-and-go EV charging.

⚛ The University of Regina is launching a small modular reactor testing centre backed by $6M in government funding.

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A few top picks from across our network

Electricity strategy: Canada is developing a new national electricity strategy to be launched this year. The effort fits Carney’s “climate competitiveness” agenda by boosting economic growth while reducing emissions from industry and transport.

The Trudeau government released a similar strategy months before Trudeau stepped down. The feds will run a draft by Premiers at a meeting later this week.

EV expansion: China’s third largest carmaker, Chery, is looking to expand into Canada. Recruiters are hitting up auto industry talent to build out a sales operation. Federal officials also want Canada to be the first to build EVs with Chinese knowledge (even Dougie’s on board).

Battery pivot: Stellantis is pivoting its NextStar EV battery plant in Ontario to produce batteries for storage. The carmaker aims to weather a pullback in EV demand and production in North America - and a growing demand for battery energy storage.

Efficiency wins: Ontario achieved 1.9 TWh of energy savings in 2024, avoiding more than 95,000 tonnes of GHG emissions or 2% of electricity sector emissions. It’s a strong signal that demand response programs can deliver real savings and adoption, with more than 200,000 participants.

Climate backtrack: Quebec postponed its 2030 emissions-cut deadline to 2035, citing job and economic concerns. Governments across Canada are off track for climate targets.

Quick Hits

🗓 Climate Coffee Toronto: A monthly coffee meet up for anyone working in or interested by the climate spaces. Co-hosted by our friends Erin Andrews and Keith Ippel. Thursday, Jan 29th, Toronto.

🗓 Policy Pitch Arena at Carbon Removal Day: Pitch your policy ideas to accelerate Canada's carbon removal sector development and deployment at Carbon Removal Day. March 5th, Ottawa.

💰 Alberta’s Fuel Innovation Fund: Apply for opportunities to deploy technologies that lowers the carbon intensity of transportation fuels under Canada’s Clean Fuel Regulations.

💻 Clean Prosperity is hiring a Director of Development to expand its capacity to shape climate and energy policy in Canada.

➡ More: Job Board | Funding Opportunities | Events