DTW Talks/Deep Tech Week SF 2025

Plasmaside VC Chat | Fusion Business Landscape 2025

Fusion Business Landscape ↗ June 25, 2025 San Francisco
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About this talk

Malcolm Handley moderates a discussion with Clea Kolster, Carly Anderson, Maryanna Saenko and Jordan Kanis about financing the commercialization of fusion. The panel covers venture capital and bank financing, physics and engineering risk, government support, plant size and modularity, supply-chain opportunities, electricity economics, and the path to project finance.

Full description & chapters

Speakers Malcolm Handley (moderator) — Strong Atomics LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolm-handley-a3b8211/ Organization: https://strong-atomics.com/ Clea Kolster — Lowercarbon Capital LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clea-kolster-phd/ Organization: https://lowercarbon.com/ Carly Anderson — Prelude Ventures (at the time of recording) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carly-e-anderson/ Organization: https://www.preludeventures.com/ Maryanna Saenko — Future Ventures LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryannasaenko/ Organization: https://future.ventures/ Jordan Kanis — Silicon Valley Bank LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-kanis/ Organization: https://www.svb.com/ Recorded at Fusion Business Landscape during Deep Tech Week SF 2025 on June 25, 2025. Event: https://www.deep-tech-week.com/sf-2025/events/fusion-business-landscape Event sponsors Lowercarbon Capital: https://lowercarbon.com/ Gigascale Capital: https://gigascale.com/ Chapters 0:00 Panel introductions and why invest in fusion 10:28 Bull and bear cases for commercial fusion 16:14 Investment structures and liquidity 20:40 Government partnerships and public support 25:01 Financing the path to commercial power 27:17 Physics, engineering and investment risk 37:40 Reactor size and modular deployment 41:38 Supply chain and picks-and-shovels investments 45:40 Fusion economics and energy prices 50:50 Audience Q&A: communicating the fusion story 56:34 Q&A: ITER and private fusion 57:33 Q&A: European policy 61:11 Q&A: vertical integration 63:19 Q&A: national labs and project finance 65:24 Closing remarks English captions were generated automatically and may contain transcription errors. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zauegwA7dG4

The speakers

People behind the talk
moderator

Malcolm Handley ↗

Fusion VC Pioneer · Strong Atomics

Malcolm Handley is an American venture capitalist and former software engineer known as the founder and managing partner of Strong Atomics, a San Francisco-based firm established in 2017 that specializes in investing in nuclear fusion startups to accelerate the development of clean, abundant, and commercially viable energy. Transitioning from a 17-year tech career—including roles as a senior engineer at Google, the first employee at Asana, and early work in virtual worlds—Handley pivoted to climate solutions, concluding fusion held promise. After serving in tech-to-market roles for fusion at ARPA-E, he continues to advise and back approaches, with portfolio companies including Zap Energy, Commonwealth Fusion Systems, and NearStar Fusion.

Speaking events
3
DTW editions
3
Published talks
1
speaker

Clea Kolster ↗

Partner · Lowercarbon Capital

Clea Kolster is a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, a venture capital firm focused on investments in climate technology and decarbonization efforts. She works on identifying and supporting innovative companies that address environmental challenges, particularly in reducing carbon emissions. Her role involves strategic investments in the energy and sustainability sectors.

Speaking events
1
DTW editions
1
Published talks
1
speaker

Carly Anderson ↗

Co-Founder And Managing Partner · Timescale Ventures

Carly Anderson is Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Timescale Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm that backs founders building climate and deep tech companies in critical infrastructure and materials. At Timescale Ventures, she focuses on sourcing and supporting seed and Series A startups, drawing on her experience as a Principal and early-stage investor at Prelude Ventures, where she has overseen investments in companies such as AMP, Ebb Carbon, Fleet Robotics, Graphyte, Heirloom Technologies, Lime, Living Carbon, polySpectra, Pyka, SCiFi Foods, Thea Energy, and Xcimer. Before joining Prelude Ventures in 2022, she was a Chemical Engineer and Partner in the energy and climate practice at Prime Movers Lab, a Senior Engineer and the first engineering hire at CO2 capture startup Mosaic Materials, and earlier led R&D on electrical plasma devices and advanced energy materials in academic and industrial settings after starting her career as an engineer with consulting firm DEI working on technology deployments in commercial nuclear power plants. Anderson’s work spans multiple patents, scientific publications, and articles for both technical and general audiences in areas including low-temperature plasmas, advanced materials for energy, and carbon capture technologies. She has presented her research and investment perspectives to diverse audiences ranging from government forums, including engagements at the White House, to university and industry events. She holds a BS in chemical engineering from Cornell University and a PhD in chemical and biomolecular engineering from the University of California, Berkeley, where her research focused on advanced materials for the energy sector and plasma-based systems.

Speaking events
2
DTW editions
2
Published talks
1
speaker

Jordan Kanis ↗

Managing Director, Climate Technology and Sustainability · Silicon Valley Bank

Jordan Kanis is the Managing Director for Climate Technology and Sustainability at Silicon Valley Bank, where he leads investment strategies and advisory services for climate-focused ventures. With a background in finance and environmental policy, he has previously held roles in banking and sustainability consulting, advising on green initiatives and capital raising. Kanis has facilitated funding for renewable energy projects and contributed to industry discussions on sustainable finance. His expertise includes climate technology, green investments, and energy transition strategies.

Speaking events
1
DTW editions
1
Published talks
1

The organizations

Presenters, hosts & supporters
Presenting company / Fund

Future Ventures ↗

Future Ventures is a seed and early-stage venture capital firm that backs founders building companies in frontier technology, with portfolio focus areas including deep tech, energy, space, robotics, food and agriculture, climate, communications, and life sciences. It has supported investments in companies such as SpaceX, Tesla, Planet Labs, Skype, D-Wave, Commonwealth Fusion and Upside Foods, and invests in entrepreneurs with the potential to reinvent industries. The firm was founded by Steve Jurvetson and Maryanna Saenko, and Jurvetson previously co-founded Draper Fisher Jurvetson while Saenko previously worked at Khosla Ventures, DFJ and Airbus Ventures. Future Ventures was founded in 2018 and is based at 465 First Street in Los Altos, California, with offices there. Jurvetson is co-founder and managing director and Saenko is co-founder and partner.

Events
2
Talks presented
1
Registrations reached
1,144
Event sponsor · Presenting company / Fund

Lowercarbon Capital ↗

Lowercarbon Capital is a climate-focused venture capital firm founded in 2018 by renowned investor Chris Sacca (formerly of Lowercase Capital, with early bets on Uber and Twitter) and his partners, dedicated to backing companies that drastically reduce CO₂ emissions, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and develop technologies to mitigate climate impacts. With over $2 billion in assets under management, it invests primarily in early-stage and growth-stage startups across sectors like clean energy, carbon removal, sustainable materials, food/agriculture, transportation, and advanced manufacturing. The firm has built a large portfolio of over 200 companies, including unicorns such as Crusoe (sustainable compute infrastructure), Watershed (enterprise carbon management), and Solugen (bio-based chemicals), alongside notable investments in frontier tech like Zap Energy (fusion), Heirloom and Avalanche Energy (carbon removal and fusion), Sublime Systems (low-carbon cement), and Crux (clean energy tax credits marketplace). Lowercarbon stands out for its aggressive, founder-friendly approach—providing hands-on support, hustling for portfolio success, and funding high-risk research—while emphasizing that profitable, superior technologies are key to scaling climate solutions and "unf**king the planet."

Events
5
Talks presented
1
Registrations reached
1,932
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Presenting company / Corporate

Silicon Valley Bank ↗

Silicon Valley Bank is the premier financial partner for the innovation economy, providing specialized banking solutions to startups, investors, and high-growth companies across sectors like fintech, AI, and technology. They support businesses at every stage from pre-seed to IPO and beyond, with tailored products, expert guidance, and sector-specific expertise. Notable for banking 60% of the 2025 Forbes Fintech 50 companies and 40% of the Forbes AI 50, SVB is recognized as one of the best banks for startups by Business Insider.

Events
6
Talks presented
1
Registrations reached
1,366
Presenting company / Fund

Strong Atomics ↗

Strong Atomics invests in nuclear fusion startups to support the creation of clean, cheap, abundant, and safe energy. The fund builds a portfolio of fusion projects selected for their potential to achieve net-positive energy and develop plausible reactors. Its investment theses include that new fusion approaches can deliver grid energy soon enough to address climate change and at costs low enough to compete. Public funding has advanced fusion toward success, opening roles for private capital focused on energy delivery. Due to uncertainty on which fusion method will prevail, Strong Atomics diversifies across multiple promising approaches. It positions fusion as complementary to renewables, storage, efficiency, and grid upgrades, while arguing that nuclear power is necessary to fully solve energy challenges.

Events
3
Talks presented
1
Registrations reached
1,229
Presenting company / Fund

Timescale Ventures ↗

Timescale Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in pre-seed and seed stage software and hardware companies using emerging technologies and AI for physical industries. The firm was co-founded in 2025 by Carly Anderson (Co-Founder and Managing Partner, previously an investor at Prime Movers Lab and Prelude Ventures, where she supported over $750M raised and deployed across funds, PhD in Chemical Engineering from UC Berkeley) and Christina O'Conor (Co-Founder and Managing Partner). Timescale Ventures Fund I, L.P. opened in July 2025 with size undisclosed. The firm is headquartered at 3 Bessom St, Suite 141, Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Events
2
Talks presented
1
Registrations reached
1,063
Event sponsor / Fund

Gigascale Capital ↗

Gigascale Capital backs early-stage companies rebuilding the physical economy for climate impact. Founded in 2023 by former Meta CTO Mike Schroepfer, Victoria Beasley, and Evaline Tsai, the firm has invested in more than 25 companies across clean energy, advanced manufacturing, grid infrastructure, and physical AI. Some decarbonize directly. Others build the enabling layers that make physical systems faster and cheaper to design, build, and deploy. In both cases, climate impact follows from better performance.

Events
2
Talks supported
10
Registrations reached
832
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