Valar Atomics targets $6B as Sequoia eyes new round

Valar Atomics is in talks to raise fresh capital at a valuation of about $6 billion, according to three sources familiar with the company. Sequoia is expected to lead the deal, the people said, and The Information first reported that the El Segundo, California startup is raising a $1 billion round.

Part of that financing was raised earlier at a lower price, the sources told TechCrunch. Per a Bloomberg report in March, Valar previously raised $450 million — including $340 million in equity and $110 million in debt — at a $2 billion valuation. TechCrunch notes that rounds assembled in multiple installments at different valuations have become more common in the current fundraising market, meaning investors in the same broader round can end up paying different prices.

Earlier this month, Valar said its reactor produced a small amount of power for an Nvidia AI chip. At the same time, Valar and Nvidia announced a partnership to explore nuclear energy for future AI data centers.

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That pitch lands as data center power demand rises and utilities struggle to add capacity fast enough. The surge has pushed nuclear energy, despite its history of cost overruns and regulatory delays, into a more prominent role in the broader infrastructure buildout around AI.

Reactor design and regulatory fight

Valar is building small modular reactors, or SMRs, and says it ultimately plans to deploy hundreds of them to power data centers. Its technology is based on a helium-cooled, high-temperature gas reactor. But while SMRs are often framed as cheaper and faster to manufacture than traditional reactors, the technology remains early, and large-scale deployment timelines are still uncertain.

The company has also taken a confrontational approach with regulators. Last year, it joined several states and rival startups in suing the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, arguing that the agency improperly applies the same lengthy licensing process to small test reactors as it does to full-scale commercial plants. TechCrunch says the case remains unresolved, though repeated pauses by both sides suggest some form of settlement may be under discussion.

Valar’s backers include Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril, and Shyam Sankar, Palantir’s chief technology officer. Other companies pursuing similar opportunities include Kairos Power, TerraPower — backed by Bill Gates — and NuScale Power, the only SMR developer with U.S. regulatory design approval. Last year, NuScale won approval for an upgraded, higher-output reactor design.

Valar was founded by Isaiah Taylor, now 27, who has said he left high school at 16, launched two startups before Valar, and had a great-grandfather who worked as a nuclear physicist on the Manhattan Project. Sequoia and Valar Atomics declined to comment.