Written by Tim Lash, Focus Fusion Society Contributor.

Update: 12/12/2017 A month after the start, crowdfunding has already raised nearly 90% of it’s initial goal – and there are 5 more months to go to reach the stretch-goal!

Thanks to recent changes to U.S. securities laws, LPPFusion is able to start a crowdfunding round of investment. Announced November 9th 2017, the initiative hopes to raise investment capital to support their search for clean, inexpensive, aneutronic fusion power.

In 2012 President Obama signed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act). Title III of this legislation went into effect on May 16th 2016 and allows for more liberal investment opportunities in private companies. LPPFusion is using these new rules to place an investment offering on WeFunder.com. U.S. law previously prohibited unaccredited investors (those earning less than $200,000 a year with a net worth below $1 million) from investing in private companies in exchange for equity. Such investors could only fund startup projects via platforms such as Kickstarter or Indiegogo in return for a discount or the product itself. But now, just about anyone can invest in a non-public company in return for equity.

LPPFusion strives for sustained fusion power from a dense plasma focus (DPF) reactor called Focus Fusion 1 (FF-1). LPPFusion’s FF-1 device is one of only a few mega-ampere DPFs in the world. LPPFusion research in the coming year will involve the first experiments using hydrogen-boron fuel and beryllium electrodes which will reduce plasma contamination and could be the key to unlocking fusion over-unity.

This funding announcement comes on the heels of news that LPPFusion will collaborate on DPF reactor research with UC San Diego (UCSD). The cooperative effort with UCSD will emphasize the potential for clean, cheap fusion based power. This should aid LPPFusion in reaching their stated goal:

To achieve the future we want for ourselves and our children, we must replace fossil fuels with a cheap, clean, safe, and unlimited energy source. Our small, decentralized 5 MW generators will use hydrogen and boron fuel, both of which are essentially unlimited in nature, to allow a direct conversion of energy to electricity without expensive turbines or radioactive waste. The cost will be 10 times cheaper than any existing energy source, meaning our Focus Fusion technology can change the world.