Valar Atomics comes out of stealth with $19M and a pilot reactor site

Companies developing small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) have raised more than $1.5 billion in the past year, as tech companies hunger for power to train AI models and governments decide to commit to the industry. For example, X-energy raised $700 million this month, and Paris-based Newcleo raised $151 million last year, and one would be remiss to not mention the $700 million invested into Oklo, NuScale and Nano Nuclear for similar projects in the U.S. While nuclear fusion still looks relatively far away, SMRs are today’s hot atomic property. So it’s significant that SMR startup Valar Atomics has raised $19 million in a seed funding round to develop its first test reactor. The financing was led by Riot Ventures, with AlleyCorp, Initialized Capital, Day One Ventures and Steel Atlas participating. Valar’s SMR technology is based on a helium-cooled, high-temperature gas reactor. These will be built out of a nuclear equivalent of a ‘gigafactory’ (where batteries are built), except Val ... Read full article.