Valar Atomics eyes $1B at a $6B valuation

Valar Atomics is in talks to raise $1 billion at a $6 billion valuation, as interest in new power sources rises alongside electricity demand from AI data centers.

The California startup, founded 3 years ago, is developing small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) designed to be factory-built and deployed faster and more cheaply than traditional reactors. Valar has already raised $450 million — including $340 million in equity financing and $110 million at a valuation of about $2 billion.

Part of the new financing could be structured across several stages at different valuations. That approach has become more common in venture funding, especially in fast-growing sectors where investors in the same round may effectively buy stakes at different prices.

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Valar’s growth comes as data centers need more electricity because of AI. Earlier this month, the company held a demonstration in which its nuclear reactor supplied a small amount of power to an Nvidia AI chip. At the same time, Valar and Nvidia announced a partnership to study the use of nuclear power for future data centers.

Valar’s technology is based on a high-temperature gas reactor cooled by helium. The company says it plans to build hundreds of SMRs for data-center power, though the technology is still emerging and the timeline for large-scale industrial deployment remains unclear.

Other SMR players include Kairos Power, TerraPower — backed by Bill Gates — and NuScale Power, the only SMR developer in the US with a regulator-approved design. Valar has also pushed for changes to licensing rules: alongside several states and other startups, it has challenged US Nuclear Regulatory Commission requirements in court, arguing that small experimental reactors should not face the same lengthy review process as large commercial plants.