Avalanche Energy Secures $5.2M DARPA Funding to Advance Fusion-Powered Batteries for Military
Fusion energy startup Avalanche Energy has been awarded $5.2 million in federal government funding to develop nuclear-powered battery systems for operational and mobile defense and energy objectives.
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) chose Avalanche Energy through the DARPA Rads to Watts program. The 30-month program aims to mature fusion power technologies to scale compact, long-duration nuclear power systems in defense and space situations where traditional batteries, refueling and solar power are not feasible.
Avalanche Energy will work to develop solid-state, micro-fabricated cells to convert radioisotope-produced alpha particles into electricity. Although many readers think of attempts at power plant-scale experiments as the singular state of nuclear fusion today, companies such as SHINE Technologies and Avalanche are using smaller-scale fusion work to create nuclear medicines and utilize nuclear waste more efficiently.
The Avalanche cells would work similarly to solar photovoltaics converting photons into electricity.
"The direct energy conversion technologies we're developing under Rads to Watts will be essential for extracting power from fusion reactions efficiently,” said Robin Langtry, co-founder and CEO of Avalanche Energy, in a statement. “We're building the capabilities today that will enable tomorrow's fusion systems to deliver reliable, portable energy for defense, space, and commercial applications."
The DARPA award will help develop energy conversion technology directly applicable to fusion, while hopefully increasing demand for high-power radioisotopes. The fusion machines producing high-energy alpha particles will also produce high-energy neutrons.
The neutrons produced are rated as efficient at creating the same radioisotopes needed for the Rads to Watts program, creating a reinforcing supply-and-technology flywheel around Avalanche's core fusion platform.
Avalanche will lead a multi-institutional team including the University of Utah, Caltech, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), and McQuaide Microsystems to deliver a near-term power technology improvising the company’s long-term goal: compact, manufacturable fusion systems capable of powering defense, space, and autonomous platforms.
Earlier this year, Avalanche Energy announced $29 million in new funding led by RA Capital Management. New investors include 8090 Industries, Overlay Capital, and others, with full participation from existing investors Congruent Ventures, Founders Fund, Lowercarbon Capital, and Toyota Ventures.
The funding reflects significant recent advances in the performance of Avalanche's compact fusion technology and provides the private matching funds for Avalanche's $10M grant issued in July 2025 by the Washington State Department of Commerce Green Jobs Grant Program.
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