Tim De Chant, a former senior climate reporter at TechCrunch, helped draw attention to the amazing advances in plasma technology. These creations are poised to change everything from semiconductor manufacturing to aerospace. De Chant’s resume would make anyone envious. They received their PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley and BA in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College. He teaches in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing. In 2018 he was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, where he studied climate technologies and new business models for journalism.
In this new, transformative landscape, Duncan Turner, general partner at SOSV, believes there’s a lot more potential to exploit in the fusion space. “There’s so much here,” he stated. “The best ideas have yet to come to unlock a lot of potential in the fusion space.”
SOSV has wasted no time in this direction, already closing an investment into two highly innovative companies, the latter being Yplasma. This new startup is applying plasma actuators to a more exotic application, cooling data center chips. They enhance active airflow control and wind turbine blade aerodynamics. Turner thinks that the collaboration between companies working in the plasma ecosystem is a good sign that there’s a promising future ahead. “All of that combined, we were like, ‘Oh wow, there’s way more than 25 companies here,’” he noted, pointing to the vast opportunities present in this emerging field.
The firm is preparing to provide more muscle behind its commitments. Over the next five years, it plans to invest in over 25 early stage plasma-based startups. This ambitious initiative is a major component of a much larger strategy. It includes a commitment to open a new Hax lab space in partnership with the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and U.S. Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
The TechCrunch Disrupt conference that we’re planning in San Francisco for October 27-29, 2025. At this event, participants will go much deeper into all of these fabulous advances. The conference should draw industry leaders and innovators looking to help shape the future of plasma technology.
