Bud Vos - MetOx | Fusion Business Landscape 2025

Bud Vos ↗

CEO · MetOx International

Bud Vos is the founder and CEO of MetOx International, a company established in 1989 that specializes in advanced materials, particularly high-temperature superconductors. He has a background in physics and has led the company in developing technologies for various applications. In his current role, he oversees the strategic direction and commercialization efforts of MetOx's materials science initiatives.

Speaking events

1

DTW editions

1

Published talks

1

MetOx International ↗

MetOx International manufactures Xeus™ high-temperature superconducting (HTS) wire consisting of YBCO thin films deposited via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition on tape substrates. The wire carries high electrical currents with near-zero resistance at cryogenic temperatures for applications in power transmission cables, fusion magnets, high-field magnets, and hyperscale data centers serving AI workloads. Pilot deployments are active in grid transmission and fusion energy projects. The company's Houston, Texas facility is North America's largest dedicated HTS wire plant, ramping to 2,000 km annual production, with a second factory of five times the capacity under development in North Carolina starting in 2026. Co-founded in the late 1990s by Dr. Alex Ignatiev, University of Houston professor of physics and materials science who serves as CSO. Leadership includes CEO Bud Vos, Executive Chairman Keyvan Esfarjani formerly of Intel global operations, CTO Mark Kennard PhD, COO Jason Reid PhD, and CFO James Carr. MetOx raised a total of $40M in Series B funding during 2024 including a $25M extension with participation from Centaurus Capital, New System Ventures, Eighty Eighty Group, Piedmont Capital Investments, and Elemental Impact, plus a $3M US Department of Energy ARPA-E grant in 2023.

Events

1

Talks presented

1

Registrations reached

390

Hyperstition Incorporated ↗

Science Fiction as a Service.

Events

47

Talks hosted

10

Registrations reached

13,413

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

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 supported

10

Registrations reached

1,932