"Helion Raises $500 Million, Targets 2024 for Demonstrating Net Electricity from Fusion" https://www.helionenergy.com/articles/helion-raises-500m/
And also an r/fusion post documenting prior claims:
> “The Helion Fusion Engine will enable profitable fusion energy in 2019,” - NBF 7/18/2014.
> “If our physics holds, we hope to reach that goal (net energy gain) in the next three years,” - D. Kirtley, CEO of Helion in the Wall Street Journal 2014.
> “Helion will demonstrate net energy gain within 24 months, and 50-MWe pilot plant by 2019,” - NBF 8/18/2015.
> “Helion will attain net energy output within a couple of years and commercial power in 6 years,” - Science News 1/27/2016.
> “Helion plans to reach breakeven energy generation in less than three years, nearly ten times faster than ITER,” - NBF 10/1/2018.
> Their newest claim on their website is: "We expect that Polaris will be able to demonstrate the production of a small amount of net electricity by 2024."
https://www.reddit.com/r/fusion/comments/133ttne/can_we_talk...
I'm sure all this came up in any due diligence as well. They are on Series E after all.
More than a decade of missed milestones is not the type of company that gets this many rounds of investment.
A lot of people really want fusion to happen, and happen sooner. I think that leads to people taking far higher risks with the capital. This sort of investment is always risky, but donating to a grander cause of technology advancement can be a reason for the investment, in addition to expected future value of the investment.
The IM video you posted, btw, is not to be taken seriously. It appears to be based solely on the Real Engineering video, not on Helion itself.
https://www.reddit.com/r/fusion/comments/10g95m9/the_problem...
Have you seen the videos of Helion's reactor - hardly a basement project. Sam Altman (OpenAI) also has personally invested hundreds of millions of dollars into Helion, presumably after some due diligence!