First Light has raised about $95 million: – $25 million in Series B funding in 2020;,$45 million in Series C funding in 2022; £10 million in March 2025 via a convertible loan.
In the last year it spent £13.4 million. At the end of March it had £9.9 million and says it will need more of cash by the middle of January 2026.
The company eventually plans to raise £60 million for further activities
The company had planned to build a gas-powered gun that would fire a 100-gram metal projectile at speeds of up to 14,500 mph into a specially designed fusion target containing deuterium fuel.
The unique aspect of this projectile is that it remains solid at these extremely high speeds and impacts the fusion target, which includes a proprietary “amplifier” design. The amplifier converts the energy of the projectile’s impact into powerful shock waves that compress and implode the fuel capsule to conditions sufficient for nuclear fusion to occur.
However the company never completed a prototype and now wants to sell its IP and know-how to other developers of nuclear fusion technology
