A Little Background On Fusion Funding And TAE Technologies, The Company Merging With Trump Media

There’s a long history of media companies merging with other media brands. But with a fusion company? Well, there’s a first.

So, there’s no hyperbole in stating that Trump Media and Technology Group, the company behind social media platform Truth Social, is breaking new ground with this morning’s announcement that it plans to combine with fusion company TAE Technologies.

The two signed a merger agreement to combine in what TMTG called a stock transaction valued at more than $6 billion. Once the deal closes, it says, shareholders of each company will own approximately half of the combined company.

So far, public investors seem to like the proposal, with shares of Trump Media up 40% in midday trading. That said, shares are well below where the company made its Nasdaq debut in March, following a SPAC merger, with its latest market cap around $4 billion.

But while markets may favor the deal now, no one would describe it as an obvious match-up. And with media insiders, energy tech aficionados and the general public all broadly scratching their heads about how to put this deal in context, we looked to see if Crunchbase data could offer relevant background.

Turns out, while we didn’t see this one coming, funding data does show the fusion space continuing to attract megarounds, with TAE exhibiting several characteristics that differentiate it from the competition.

Here are some of findings on both TAE specifically and fusion startup funding more broadly:

Founded in 1998, Foothill Ranch, California-based TAE is the oldest operating venture-backed fusion energy company in the Crunchbase dataset. The next-oldest is British Columbia-based General Fusion, founded in 2002.
To date, TAE has raised close to $1.5 billion in known equity funding. It raised its most recent round — a $150 million venture financing — in June with backing from Google, Chevron Technology Ventures and New Enterprise Associates.
In the past five years, fusion-focused startups have raised more than $7 billion in venture funding, per Crunchbase data. Of that, a little less than half has closed in the past two years.
A handful of fusion startups have secured a big chunk of funding to the space. Besides TAE, the most heavily funded are Commonwealth Fusion Systems ($2.86 billion in equity funding), Helion Energy, Pacific Fusion ($900 million), and General Fusion ($357 million).
This year, the standout for funding was Commonwealth Fusion, which raised $863 million in an August Series B2 round. The Devens, Massachusetts-based company also said it is moving closer to being the first in the world to commercialize fusion power.
Everett, Washington-based Helion Energy also locked up a $425 million Series F early this year as it looks to commercialize its fusion technology.

Do any of these findings explain why you should have had Truth Social merging with a Google-backed fusion company on your bingo card for 2025? Probably not. But they do at least offer support for the notion that Trump Media is entering a space that’s attracted a lot of capital of late from a lot of known smart money investors.