Twilio Co-Founder Jeff Lawson Turns to Fusion Energy With New Venture
Former Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson now leads fusion energy startup Inertia and will discuss his shift from software to deep tech at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 in San Francisco this October.
Jeff Lawson, who co-founded communications company Twilio and helped grow it into a public business generating more than $4 billion in revenue with 300,000 customers worldwide, has moved into a very different field. As co-founder and CEO, he now leads Inertia, a company working to bring fusion power to the electrical grid.
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, taking place October 13-15 in San Francisco, Lawson will join a fireside chat titled "How Twilio's Founder Is Tackling the Power Problem," exploring how much of what makes a successful software entrepreneur translates to a capital-intensive deep tech venture built on lasers, manufacturing, and major engineering milestones.
Major funding and a new headquarters
In February, Inertia announced a $450 million Series A funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from GV and other investors. The capital is supporting development of powerful laser systems and mass manufacturing of fusion fuel targets — steps the company considers essential to moving from laboratory research toward grid-scale energy production.
In July, Inertia opened a 50,000-square-foot headquarters in Livermore, California, housing facilities for fuel-target manufacturing and laser technology development. The company has also recruited leaders from companies including Apple, Corning, and Waymo to strengthen its manufacturing and supply-chain operations.
Lawson's background includes early product leadership roles at Amazon Web Services and serving as founding CTO of StubHub. At the Disrupt session, discussion will focus on how that experience shapes Inertia's approach to hiring, timelines, fundraising, and engineering decisions — without assuming that methods proven in software will carry over unchanged to fusion energy.
