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Inertia, a startup that's commercializing the National Ignition Facility fusion breakthroughs, opened its headquarters in Livermore, California, on Friday.

Why it matters: The VC-backed newcomer has one of the most pragmatic plans to deliver electricity from commercial fusion by the mid-2030s. 

Behind the scenes: Inertia co-founders Mike Dunne, Jeff Lawson and Annie Kritcher showed off the newly renovated 50,000-square-foot facility, where close to 60 employees are beginning to work on ways to commercialize laser-based fusion. 

"Six months ago this was a wire extruding factory. It was filthy," says CEO Lawson, who previously co-founded Twilio and provided Inertia's seed funding.

Inertia will develop processes to scale up manufacturing of the fusion targets, and build a prototype laser that Lawson says "will be more powerful than the next most powerful laser of its kind by a factor of 50."

Zoom in: Inertia's HQ is two miles south of Lawrence Livermore National Lab, which under Kritcher's leadership, achieved the world's first fusion ignition and breakeven in December 2022. 

The proximity will enable a close collaboration between the lab and the company on the design of the fusion targets, development of high-powered lasers, and scaling the fabrication techniques, says Lawson.

Inertia has licensed 200 of LLNL's patents and Kritcher maintains her work at the lab.

The building is also one of the few in the area that can get 2,000 amps of power coming into it, says Dunne.

Three researchers stand in a modern laboratory with computers and a microscope; two men and a woman wear black shirts with the INERTIA logo, posing near workbenches and scientific equipment.

Inertia co-founders Mike Dunne, Jeff Lawson and Annie Kitcher inside Inertia's HQ in Livermore, Calif. Photo: Katie Fehrenbacher/Axios

Follow the money: Inertia, founded in 2024, raised a $450 million Series A led by Bessemer Venture Partners earlier this year. GV (Google Ventures), Modern Capital, Threshold Ventures, Neo, Uncork Capital, Long Journey Ventures, WndrCo, and IQT also invested.

Inertia's Series A will enable the company to do the process development work but it will need additional financing to build the commercial laser and the commercial fusion fuel target assembly line. 

Behind the scenes of Inertia's newly opened fusion facility

It's a pragmatic approach to scaling fusion.

Three people stand in a modern lab, conversing. Left: man in a suit, center: woman in red, right: man in a black INERTIA shirt. Overhead piping and lab equipment fill the background.

Inertia co-founder and CTO Mike Dunne, right, explains the tech behind Inertia's laser-based fusion to Rep. Zoe Lofgren and Sen. Jerry McNerney. Photo: Katie Fehrenbacher/Axios

Inertia, a startup that&#x27;s commercializing the National Ignition Facility fusion breakthroughs, opened its headquarters in Livermore, California, on Friday.Why it matters: The <a class="gtmContentClick" data-vars-link-text="VC-backed" data-vars-click-url="https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2026/02/11/inertia-450-million-fusion-jeff-lawson" data-vars-content-id="92fca410-7fc6-44a5-95d1-363acecccd98" data-vars-headline="Behind the scenes of Inertia&#x27;s newly opened fusion facility" data-vars-event-category="story" data-vars-sub-category="story" data-vars-item="in_content_link" href="https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2026/02/11/inertia-450-million-fusion-jeff-lawson" target="_self">VC-backed</a> newcomer has one of the most pragmatic plans to deliver electricity from commercial fusion by the mid-2030s.

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Behind the scenes of Inertia's newly opened fusion facility

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