The race to power AI data centers has a new heavyweight. Valar Atomics, a startup building small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) for large-scale AI compute, closed a $1 billion Series B led by Sequoia Capital at a $6 billion post-money valuation, Bloomberg reported Monday.
The round — one of the largest in the nuclear sector this year — follows a development agreement the company signed with Nvidia in June, and it also secured a $200 million credit facility alongside the equity financing.
Valar's pitch: replace one-off reactor designs with "fleets" of standardized small reactors that can be deployed near data centers, giving hyperscalers a steady, carbon-free power source for the energy-hungry AI buildout.
The startup, backed by Initialized Capital since its 2024 seed round, is part of a wave of investment flowing into nuclear power as tech giants hunt for gigawatts to train and run frontier models.
Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire, who led the deal, is a vocal advocate of using advanced nuclear to meet AI's electricity demand.
Sources
- bloomberg.comSequoia Leads $1 Billion Investment in Nuclear Startup Valar — Bloomberg
- techcrunch.comSequoia's Shaun Maguire leads $1B round for nuclear startup Valar Atomics — TechCrunch
- axios.comSequoia leads $1B round for nuclear startup Valar — Axios
- wsj.comNuclear energy startup Valar Atomics raises $1 billion — WSJ
