A consortium including Qiming Venture Partners has led a $100-million investment in SunUp Fusion (Shanghai) Technology, just five months after the Chinese nuclear fusion startup completed its star-studded angel round from investors like Hillhouse, HongShan, and IDG Capital.
Founded in July 2025 as an incubation project grown out of Fudan University in Shanghai, SunUp Fusion specialises in developing small-scale, high-magnetic-field compact fusion power plants.
Unlike standard DT reactors that rely on a fuel mixture of Deuterium and Tritium, the startup is pursuing Deuterium-Helium-3 (D-³He) fuel cycles to achieve cleaner fusion energy, drastically reducing neutron activation and structural radiation.
While state capital and policy tailwinds play a major part in driving the industry growth, the Chinese nuclear fusion market is slowly transitioning from government-led research to a commercial industry.
For the first time in history, China designated nuclear fusion as a top “frontier technology” and a critical strategic priority in its national 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030), targeting net-gain fusion power generation by around 2030.
“Controlled nuclear fusion is no longer a distant scientific hypothesis, but the ultimate engineering feat for humanity to achieve energy freedom, realise carbon neutrality, and power next-generation productivity infrastructure,” said Nan Chen, a principal of Qiming.
This maturing industry offers the current generation of tech entrepreneurs “a rare hands-on opportunity to drive a monumental global advancement,” he said. “In the future, artificial intelligence will accelerate nuclear fusion R&D, control, and simulation, while nuclear fusion will provide AI with a high-density, reliable, and clean energy foundation.”
Qiming jointly led the $100-million deal in SunUp Fusion alongside CMC Capital Partners, financial services group Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Limited (ICBC)-controlled ICBC Capital, and Huajin Capital of the state-owned Zhuhai Technology Industry Group.
A group of domestic investors, including Fortune Capital, QHFZ Capital Management, and Orient Securities, as well as existing investors like CAS Star and Baidu Ventures, participated in the round.
The latest investment came just five months after SunUp Fusion raised “hundreds of millions of yuan (or $14.8 million, the least)” in an angel round in early January. HongShan, IDG Capital, Hillhouse Investment Management, and CDH Investments participated.
Fudan University and its investment platform FDIC, CAS Star, and the 15-billion-yuan ($2.2 billion), government-led Shanghai Future-Oriented Industries Fund were among the startup’s earliest investors at its incubation stage.
The inclusion of nuclear fusion as a policy-aligned sector has accelerated private and industry capital inflows into the field. Incubated at the Tsinghua Fusion Laboratory, Startuous Fusion reached a unicorn valuation of over $1 billion in May after raising 500 million yuan ($73.9 million) in a Series A+ round. This newly minted unicorn just secured a Series A round at 1 billion yuan ($147.8 million) in January.
In April, Shanghai-based NovaFusion raised an Alibaba-led, extended angel round at 700 million yuan ($103.5 million), bringing its fundraising total to 1.2 billion yuan ($177.4 million) just one year after its inception in April 2025. Hillhouse and Meituan participated in the round.
Energy Singularity, another industry leader based in Shanghai, also completed a Series A round in February from government guidance funds in Beijing, after investors like Chinese game developer MiHoYo, NIO Capital, and HongShan Seed Fund poured close to 800 million yuan ($118.2 million) in its previous two rounds.
