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

Published: August 3, 2026 — TechCrunch

Valar Atomics founder/CEO Isaiah Taylor announced the company raised $1billion\ast \ast inequityledbySequoiaCapital(partner\ast \ast ShaunMaguire\ast \ast joiningtheboard),plusa\ast \ast$200 million credit facility from Erebor and other banks (total newly announced financing ~$1.2B).Bloombergreportedvaluationat\ast \ast$6 billion**.

Product / milestone

• Building small modular nuclear reactors (SMRs) — factory-built, intended cheaper/faster than traditional plants
• In June, demonstrated Ward 250 reactor successfully powering an Nvidia Blackwell system
• Announced deal with Nvidia to develop a waterless 30MW AI factory
• Funding to shift from demonstration toward manufacturing fleets (“tens, then hundreds, then thousands” of reactors per year)

Investors

Sequoia (lead); Apandion Capital, Atreides Management, Conviction, Dream Ventures, HOF Capital, Point72, Riot Ventures, Snowpoint Ventures, Valor Equity Partners, and others.

Competitive context

Other nuclear raises recently cited: Antares $470M;X-energy$1B via IPO. Thesis ties nuclear manufacturing to AI data-center power demand.