Nixon Peabody has advised Sumitomo Corporation of Americas in a strategic equity investment in SHINE Technologies, a fusion technology company developing applications in medical isotopes, neutron imaging, nuclear waste recycling and fusion energy. The investment strengthens an existing partnership between Sumitomo, a subsidiary of publicly traded Japanese firm Sumitomo Corporation, and SHINE to commercialise fusion-derived products and technologies. Daniel Belostock, a partner in Nixon Peabody's Corporate practice, led the firm's deal team. The investment amount and SHINE's valuation were not disclosed.

How Far Away is Fusion Energy? The debate is coming to SXSW. Everyone asks the same question about fusion energy: when? The question worth asking is this: What does it take to make fusion work in the real world - under real economic pressures, real regulatory requirements, and real customer expectations? That's the conversation SHINE Technologies, LLC. is bringing to SXSW 2026. On March 16, its founder and CEO Greg Piefer joins a live panel at the JW Marriott for The Great Fusion Debate: How Far Away Are SHINE Technologies, LLC. Really? - a session designed to define how fusion energy progress should be judged. Why fusion's timeline has become a planning problem Fusion energy promises abundant, carbon-free power by harnessing the same reactions that fuel the sun. Its potential has driven decades of scientific effort and billions of dollars in investment. But as companies race to build AI data centers, governments revisit climate timelines, and investors weigh long-horizon bets, the tension between fusion's promise and its near-term feasibility has become harder to ignore. Companies building energy-intensive infrastructure are making bets on when fusion could factor into their power strategy. Governments writing climate policy are deciding how much weight fusion deserves in the near term. Investors are pricing long-horizon risk against a technology that keeps moving the goalpost. The gap between fusion's promise and its near-term realities is growing - and it's shaping decisions in boardrooms and legislatures, not just research labs. How you judge fusion progress - what counts, what doesn't, and why - has become as consequential as the underlying physics. What Greg brings to the fusion energy debate Greg's perspective is grounded in something most fusion voices don't have: the experience of deploying fusion technology in active commercial markets today. SHINE Technologies, LLC. operate fusion systems for neutron testing. SHINE Technologies, LLC. produce medical isotopes. And SHINE Technologies, LLC. is developing capabilities for used nuclear fuel recycling. That means its systems must perform reliably, hold up under regulatory scrutiny, and make economic sense - every day, not in a future projection. That experience shapes how Greg thinks about the path forward. "The physics works," Greg says. "The economics are getting closer." SXSW Fusion Energy Panel Moderated by Jacob Goldstein, host of What's Your Problem?, this SXSW 2026 panel on fusion energy brings together different vantage points on one of the harder questions in energy today. * Greg Piefer, Founder and CEO, SHINE - engineering and commercial realities * Luke Ward, Investment Director, Baillie Gifford - long-horizon capital and risk * Melanie Windridge, Founder, Fusion Energy Insights - industry-wide tracking of advances and setbacks What the session is designed to do This session is about sharpening judgment on a question that's already influencing real decisions. The conversation is useful beyond fusion, too. Whether you're allocating capital, building infrastructure, or just trying to make sense of competing technology claims, the ability to distinguish genuine progress from optimistic framing is increasingly valuable. That's the practical upside of this session - a more disciplined framework for evaluating ambitious technology at the moment it starts to matter. Not just for fusion, but for any deep tech category where timelines shape decisions before the technology arrives. Session Details * Event: SXSW 2026 * Date: Monday, March 16, 2026 * Time: 10:00-11:00 a.m. CT * Location: JW Marriott, Room 201-202 * Format: Live panel with audience Q&A 3400 Innovation Ct. Janesville, WI 53546 FOLLOW OUR journey

The week's 10 biggest funding rounds: OpenAI takes the spotlight with record-setting $110B round. February 27, 2026 Want to keep track of the largest startup funding deals in 2025 with our curated list of $100 million-plus venture deals to U.S.-based companies? Check out The Crunchbase Megadeals Board. This is a weekly feature that runs down the week's top 10 announced funding rounds in the U.S. Check out last week's biggest funding deal roundup here. It was going to be a fairly business as usual top 10 list this week until OpenAI decided to disrupt our Friday with news that it raised $110 billion in new funding. Yes, $110 billion. That is so much money, and so record-setting as a private company funding round, that it makes all those other $100 million and $200 million rounds we usually write about look very paltry by comparison. That said, we did nonetheless see a number of these kinds of rounds, in sectors including semiconductors, AI, healthcare and biotech. 1. OpenAI, $110B, artificial intelligence: Generative AI giant OpenAI announced that it has raised $110 billion in new investment at a valuation of $730 billion pre-money, or $840 billion post-money. The deal includes $50 billion from Amazon, $30 billion from SoftBank, and $30 billion from Nvidia. San Francisco-based OpenAI says more investors are expected to join as the round progresses. 2. (tied) MatX, $500M, semiconductors: MatX, a startup that designs custom chips and hardware architectures to support large language models, secured $500 million in Series B funding as it prepares to scale manufacturing. Jane Street Capital and Situational Awareness led the financing for the Mountain View, California-based company. 2. (tied) Vero Networks, $500M, broadband: Boulder, Colorado-based Vero Networks, a fiber infrastructure and broadband internet provider, picked up $500 million in a growth funding round backed by Braemont Capital, Hamilton Lane and Delta-v Capital. 4. Shine Technologies, $240M, fusion: Janesville, Wisconsin-based Shine Technologies, a developer of fusion technologies with applications in the medicine and energy sectors, raised $240 million in equity funding led by NantWorks. 5. Revel, $150M, hardware testing tools: Revel, developer of a software platform for hardware test and control, closed on $150 million in Series B funding. Index Ventures led the financing for the Los Angeles-based company, which plans to expand its offerings across aerospace, defense, robotics and industrial sectors. 6. Honest Health, $140M, healthcare: Nashville, Tennessee-based Honest Health, a provider of tech-enabled tools for primary care providers, secured $140 million in a new financing led by NewSpring. 7. Slate Medicines, $130M, biotech: Slate Medicines, a startup working on therapeutics for headache disorders, announced its launch alongside $130 million in Series A financing. RA Capital Management, Forbion Capital Partners and Foresite Capital led the investment for the Raleigh, North Carolina-based company. 8. Ubicquia, $106M, smart infrastructure: Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based Ubicquia, provider of an analytics platform for smart lighting, grid monitoring and public safety applications, raised $106 million in Series D funding. 67 Capital and Marunouchi Innovation Partners led the financing for the 12-year-old company. 9. (tied) Basis, $100M, AI-enabled accounting: Basis, an AI agent platform for accountants, closed on $100 million in Series B funding at a $1.15 billion valuation. Accel led the round for the New York-based startup, along with Google Ventures, Lloyd Blankfein and Khosla Ventures. 9. (tied) Aalyria, $100M, satellite and network communication: Google spinout Aalyria, a developer of software that configures communications satellites to meet demand, secured $100 million in Series B funding. Battery Ventures and J2 Ventures led the financing for the Livermore, California-based company. 9. (tied) Viture, $100M, smart glasses: Viture, a San Francisco-based maker of extended reality (XR) smart glasses and accessories, says it raised $100 million in a financing led by Legend Capital. Methodology. We tracked the largest announced rounds in the Crunchbase database that were raised by U.S.-based companies for the period of Feb. 21-27. Although most announced rounds are represented in the database, there could be a small time lag as some rounds are reported late in the week. Stay up to date with recent funding rounds, acquisitions, and more with the Crunchbase Daily. February 27, 2026 Venture funding to companies in Crunchbase space tech and satellite categories hit a high last year of nearly $12 billion. So far, 2026 is off to a... 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