Sequoia Capital led a $1-billion funding round for El Segundo-based Valar Atomics Inc. that the nuclear startup says will help it shift from demonstrating small reactors to producing them in volume.
The transaction values Valar at $6 billion, including the money being invested. The nuclear company has also lined up a $200-million credit facility, according to a statement Monday.
Atreides Management, Point72 and Snowpoint Ventures also participated in the Series B financing and Shaun Maguire, a Sequoia partner, will join Valar’s board, according to a statement Monday.
The nuclear company has also lined up a $200-million credit facility.
Valar is developing next-generation nuclear plants that would be produced in factories and then delivered to provide power for data centers, industrial sites or other facilities.
These so-called small modular reactors are aimed at reducing costs and speeding deployment in an industry that’s known for over-budget and delayed projects. The idea is gaining traction, but there are none in service outside of China and Russia.
“AI is building very quickly. We need a lot of power in every direction,” Isaiah Taylor, Valar’s chief executive officer, said during an interview on Bloomberg TV. “This is really about scale for us. This is the firepower that we need to go and build.”
Valar is one of four companies that have achieved a key technical milestone this year for new reactors, starting a self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction that releases a steady stream of energy.
Valar went beyond that in July, by also using that fission reaction to produce enough electricity to power an Nvidia Corp. AI chip and host a website. The two companies are now planning a 30-megawatt AI facility in Utah powered by Valar systems.
The funding is expected to help Valar accelerate its manufacturing plans, Taylor said.
“We want to prove pace of production,” he said. “We want to go from building one reactor in a year, to six months, to once a month and then even faster.”
Wade and Ludlow write for Bloomberg.
