General Fusion (GFUZ) Stock Jumps 21% as Bezos-Backed Fusion Play Hits Nasdaq

TLDR

• General Fusion (GFUZ) began trading on the Nasdaq Monday after completing a SPAC merger with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III
• Stock closed 21% higher at $11 on its first day, with intraday gains reaching nearly 30%
• The company raised $150 million through the listing, enough to fund operations through 2028
• General Fusion aims to have its first commercial nuclear fusion reactor running by 2035
• Jeff Bezos has been an investor since 2011; the company was ranked #1 on TIME’s Top GreenTech Companies of 2026

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General Fusion Group (GFUZ) made its public market debut on Monday, closing up 21% at $11 after seeing intraday gains of nearly 30%. The Canadian fusion energy company completed a SPAC merger with Spring Valley Acquisition Corp. III to become one of the first pure-play fusion energy companies trading on public markets.

The listing brought in approximately $150 million in cash from transaction proceeds and trust funds. CEO Greg Twinney said the funds are enough to sustain the company through 2028, by which point General Fusion expects to have cleared enough scientific milestones to make future fundraising easier.

General Fusion was founded in 2002, making it one of the oldest fusion companies in the sector. Jeff Bezos first backed the company in 2011 and has remained a supporter since.

The road to Monday’s debut wasn’t smooth. General Fusion laid off 25% of its staff last year and had to reach out to investors for additional capital before the SPAC deal came together.

What Makes General Fusion Different

General Fusion uses Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) technology, and its approach relies on steam-driven pistons rather than the superconducting magnets and lasers used by many rivals. Twinney says this makes the technology more economical because it avoids exotic materials.

The company built its first fusion machine in Vancouver. Recent tests showed plasma heating results from its LM26 machine reaching around 8.4 million degrees Celsius. The machine will eventually need to reach temperatures of 100 million degrees Celsius during testing.

The company’s Lawson program is targeting key technical milestones by 2028. General Fusion was also ranked first on TIME’s list of the World’s Top GreenTech Companies of 2026 and signed a framework agreement to explore fusion deployment in Italy.

The Investment Case

Investing in GFUZ is a speculative play. Nuclear fusion has never been used commercially anywhere in the world. Every nuclear plant operating today runs on fission, not fusion.

In 2022, a U.S. government lab in California generated more energy from a fusion reaction than the lasers used to trigger it consumed. That was a milestone, but it hasn’t translated into a commercial path yet.

General Fusion’s target of having a commercial reactor running by 2035 is the best-case scenario, according to Twinney. Investors are looking at a long wait.

The broader fusion space is drawing serious money. Sam Altman has backed Helion, and Google has invested in TAE Technologies, which announced a deal last year to merge with Trump Media and Technology Group in an all-stock transaction worth over $6 billion.

With no analyst coverage yet following the debut, there’s no expert guidance for investors weighing GFUZ. Companies that go public via SPAC mergers often see elevated volatility in the weeks that follow.

General Fusion’s most recent plasma heating results from the LM26 machine stand at 8.4 million degrees Celsius, well short of the targets needed for practical fusion power.