Sequoia’s Shaun Maguire leads $1B round for nuclear startup Valar Atomics

红杉资本 Shaun Maguire 领投核能初创公司 Valar Atomics 10 亿美元融资

Valar Atomics confirmed the whisperings that it was raising a giant round led by Sequoia on Monday. The startup’s founder and CEO Isaiah Taylor announced that the company has raised $1 billion in equity, with Sequoia partner Shaun Maguire joining its board, and that it also secured a $200 million line of credit from Erebor and other banks. While the nuclear startup did not disclose its valuation, Bloomberg reported that it was $6 billion.

周一，Valar Atomics 证实了此前关于其正在进行由红杉资本领投的巨额融资的传闻。该公司创始人兼首席执行官 Isaiah Taylor 宣布，公司已筹集 10 亿美元股权融资，红杉资本合伙人 Shaun Maguire 将加入其董事会。此外，公司还从 Erebor 及其他银行获得了 2 亿美元的信贷额度。虽然这家核能初创公司并未披露其估值，但据彭博社报道，其估值已达 60 亿美元。

Valar is building small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) — essentially miniaturized, factory-built power plants intended to be cheaper and faster to build than traditional reactors. In June, it demonstrated its Ward 250 reactor successfully powering an Nvidia Blackwell system, the company said, and announced a deal with Nvidia to develop a waterless 30MW AI factory.

Valar 正在建造小型模块化反应堆（SMR）——本质上是工厂制造的微型发电厂，旨在比传统反应堆更便宜、更快速地建造。该公司表示，今年 6 月，其 Ward 250 反应堆成功为一套英伟达 Blackwell 系统供电，并宣布与英伟达达成协议，共同开发一座 30 兆瓦的无水 AI 工厂。

Valar says its reactors generate the engineering, manufacturing, and operational data needed to improve next-generation reactors, speeding its development cycles. “It took two years to complete the NOVA core. It took seven months to take Ward 250 critical. With each reactor built, the tick rate will become smaller until Valar is producing tens, then hundreds, then thousands of reactors per year,” it said, adding that this funding will allow it to reach its next milestone: manufacturing fleets of its SMRs.

Valar 表示，其反应堆产生的工程、制造和运营数据对于改进下一代反应堆至关重要，能够有效缩短开发周期。“完成 NOVA 核心耗时两年，而 Ward 250 实现临界状态仅用了七个月。随着每一座反应堆的建成，迭代周期将不断缩短，直到 Valar 每年能生产数十、数百乃至数千座反应堆。”该公司补充称，这笔资金将助力其实现下一个里程碑：实现 SMR 的规模化量产。

It certainly isn’t the only nuclear startup pursuing such ambitions. Over the past few months, Antares raised $470 million, and X-energy raised $1 billion through its IPO. As for Valar’s new round, other investors include Apandion Capital, Atreides Management, Conviction, Dream Ventures, HOF Capital, Point72, Riot Ventures, Snowpoint Ventures, and Valor Equity Partners.

当然，这并非唯一一家怀揣此类雄心的核能初创公司。在过去几个月中，Antares 筹集了 4.7 亿美元，X-energy 则通过 IPO 筹集了 10 亿美元。至于 Valar 的本轮融资，其他投资者还包括 Apandion Capital、Atreides Management、Conviction、Dream Ventures、HOF Capital、Point72、Riot Ventures、Snowpoint Ventures 和 Valor Equity Partners。