Venture Capital: Neva invests in fusion innovator Commonwealth Fusion Systems

16 June 2025

Neva SGR , the Intesa Sanpaolo Group's venture capital company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Intesa Sanpaolo Innovation Center, has chosen to invest in the US-based Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS), which has patented and developed the revolutionary SPARC reactor, the world's first commercially relevant net energy fusion machine.

The transaction was announced at an event hosted by Neva SGR at Officine Grandi Riparazioni in Turin to present the investments of the Neva II and Neva II Italia funds in cutting-edge energy technologies.

Nuclear fusion offers an opportunity for Italy, both in terms of achieving complete energy security and because some of the country's companies are already part of the industry's international production chain.

In the energy transition, Neva SGR scouts globally for companies with specific characteristics, start-ups or already mature companies with revolutionary patents and projects in the pipeline that:

• can be scaled for industrial productio
• significantly contribute to decarbonising of the most energy-intensive industrial sectors
• enable stable and continuous baseload energy productionsupport renewables through energy storage, grid optimisation, and balancing.

Since its inception in 2020, Neva SGR has chosen to invest in highly innovative companies in four key areas:

• Climate Tech & Energy Transition
• Life Science
• Digital Transformations
• Aerospace & Manufacturing.

Neva SGR met its targets ahead of schedule, investing over €180 million through its first three funds—Neva First (global investments), Neva First Italia (focused on Italian companies), and Fondo Sei (supporting Italian innovation ecosystems)—in 43 high-growth, highly innovative companies, and distributing around €13 million to investors.

Since launching two new funds, Neva II and Neva II Italia, last September, the company has already invested approximately €24 million in two companies.

Photo credits: courtesy Commonwealth Fusion Systems