Financing to support advancement of magnetic mirror fusion technology
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 17, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, today announced it has provided a growth capital facility of $9.5 million to fusion energy startup Realta Fusion (Realta).
Realta Fusion's technology is built to provide on-site industrial heat and power across a broad range of uses, including data centers, chemical processing, metal recycling, remote mining, and other heavy industrial operations. This latest financing will enable Realta to continue derisking the physics of its compact, scalable, and modular -- CoSMo fusion$(TM)$ -- energy system on its path to commercialization.
"While our approach promises to be a lower capital path to fusion energy than some other concepts, we are still a deep tech company with significant capital needs," said Realta Fusion CEO and Co-Founder Kieran Furlong. "This debt financing made available to us by SVB is a powerful tool we can put to good use on the way to safe, clean, and reliable commercial fusion energy."
Realta's system is based on the compact magnetic mirror concept, in which extremely strong magnets trap super-heated hydrogen gas between two ends of a simple cylinder. Hydrogen atoms within the cylinder collide and fuse together, releasing massive amounts of carbon-free energy that can be delivered as heat or electricity.
"Realta has the potential to transform energy use across data centers, manufacturing, and other heavy industries," said Dennis Grunt, Managing Director, Technology and Healthcare Banking at Silicon Valley Bank, a division of First Citizens Bank. "SVB is thrilled to support Realta as it grows and scales its fusion energy platform as a future source of heat and power."
About Realta Fusion
Realta Fusion spun out of a large fusion experiment at the University of Wisconsin-Madison funded by the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency -- Energy. The experiment was the first to use high temperature superconducting magnets in a magnetic mirror configuration and confined its first plasma at a world-record breaking magnetic field strength of 17 Tesla. Realta Fusion recently announced a $36 million Series A funding round led by new investor Future Ventures, with further support from existing investor Khosla Ventures, who led Realta Fusion's seed round in 2023.
About Silicon Valley Bank
Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), a division of First Citizens Bank, is the bank of some of the world's most innovative companies and investors. SVB provides commercial banking to companies in the technology, life science and healthcare, private equity and venture capital industries. SVB operates in centers of innovation throughout the United States, serving the unique needs of its dynamic clients with deep sector expertise, insights and connections. SVB's parent company, First Citizens BancShares, Inc. $(FCNCA)$, is a top 20 U.S. financial institution with more than $200 billion in assets. First Citizens Bank, Member FDIC. Learn more at svb.com
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SOURCE Silicon Valley Bank
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February 17, 2026 09:00 ET (14:00 GMT)