Xcimer Energy raises $100M Series A for KrF laser ICF approach

Xcimer Energy closed a $100 million Series A led by Hedosophia with participation from Lowercarbon Capital and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. The company is pursuing a krypton-fluoride (KrF) laser driver architecture, an inertial confinement variant championed for decades by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.

KrF lasers operate at 248 nm — a shorter wavelength than NIF's frequency-tripled glass lasers — and are claimed to support higher repetition rates and lower per-shot cost at scale. Xcimer plans to build a 100 kJ KrF demonstration platform in Colorado over the next 24 months.