IMM Investment Japan leads Series D round in Kyoto Fusioneering, with POSCO and Doosan among backers

IMM Investment Japan (IMMJ), the Japanese arm of IMM Investment, is backing a Japanese nuclear fusion company alongside major South Korean conglomerates.

IMMJ announced Tuesday that it has joined the Series D round of Kyoto Fusioneering as lead investor. Kyoto Fusioneering is a leading Japanese deep tech company with both the foundational technology and plant engineering capabilities needed to commercialize nuclear fusion power generation.

IMMJ is a venture capital firm IMM Investment established in 2017. Its portfolio includes GROUND, a Japanese AI- and robotics-based logistics solutions company; Timee, a short-term staffing matching platform; EV Motors, an electric vehicle startup; and Celid, a developer of augmented reality spatial recognition engines.

The investment was made through the Korea-Japan Fusion Fund, a project fund IMMJ assembled with Korean and Japanese investors. IMMJ took the lead in forming the cross-border project fund to connect the capital and business networks of leading Korean companies with cutting-edge Japanese deep tech firms.

A notable feature of the fund is the participation of Korean companies with global operations across diverse industries as strategic investors. POSCO Holdings, POSCO International, Doosan, Hyundai Motor and GS Engineering & Construction all joined, along with Japanese regional banks and local strategic investors. Financial investors including Octagon Venture Partners also took part. The involvement of Korean strategic investors lays the groundwork for technology and business cooperation between companies in the two countries.

Kyoto Fusioneering is developing key technologies required to build nuclear fusion power facilities — among them the gyrotron, a plasma heating device; a fuel cycle system that circulates and supplies fuel; and a blanket and thermal cycle that recovers reaction energy. The company is also advancing UNITY, a demonstration program in Japan, Canada and the United States designed to validate these technologies in real plant environments.

Proceeds from the Series D round will go toward building and upgrading demonstration infrastructure under the UNITY-1, -2 and -3 programs, strengthening research, development and manufacturing capabilities including for the gyrotron, and expanding the global talent base and business foundation.

"We are deeply honored to participate in this fundraising by Kyoto Fusioneering, which is leading the industrialization and commercialization of nuclear fusion energy, through the Korea-Japan Fusion Fund," an IMMJ official said. "We will actively support efforts to translate this into technology and business cooperation between companies in the two countries, and continue to create success stories that connect the industrial capabilities of both nations."