X-energy, a nuclear startup, recently announced a successful $700 million Series D funding round, following a previous expansion of its Series C, bringing its total fundraising to $1.4 billion over the past year. The company aims to utilize this capital to bolster the supply chain for its small modular reactors (SMRs). These SMRs have already garnered interest, with orders for 144 units from prominent companies like Amazon, Dow, and Centrica.
The latest funding round, led by Jane Street and joined by various other investors including ARK Invest and Point72, highlights the growing enthusiasm surrounding X-energy’s high-temperature, gas-cooled reactors. These advanced Xe-100 reactors, each capable of producing 80 megawatts of electricity, operate using innovative carbon-coated pebbles containing uranium particles, which heat helium gas to power steam turbines and generate electricity.
Notably, nuclear startups like X-energy are receiving significant attention from tech firms and data center developers, with Amazon’s Climate Pledge Fund prominently backing X-energy’s Series C. Amazon’s commitment to purchasing over 600 megawatts of nuclear capacity from X-energy indicates a substantial shift towards nuclear power within the tech industry, with plans for up to 5 gigawatts deployed by 2039.
Source: TechCrunch