Nuclear startups are attracting attention from Hyperscalar and absorbing cash from investors. Aalo Atomics is the latest beneficiary of Big Tech-Small Nuclear Love Affair, raising $100 million in Series B, the company announced today.
The startup is planning to flip the switch at its first reactor in the summer of 2026, CEO Matt Rossack said in a LinkedIn post. The facility is located on the Idaho National Laboratory campus.
AALO can be considered a pseudo spinout of the Energy Institute, which developed and opened up a small modular reactor design called Marvel, to avoid confusing it with a furniture startup with obstacles. The company’s CTO Yasir Arafat previously led the designs for Marvel, but Aalo “inspires” its prototype. Aalo also received development support from the Idaho National Laboratory as part of the Obama administration program to accelerate nuclear reactor development.
The Series B Rounds include 50Y, Alumni Ventures, Crescent Enterprises, Crosscut, Fine Structure Ventures, Gaingel, Harpoon Ventures, Hitachi Ventures, Kindred Ventures, MCJ, NRG Energy, Nuclear Capital, Enduring VC, Tischman Spair, and Vamos Ben’s.
If Aalo can meet aggressive deadlines, it will be against the trends of the nuclear industry. This has a long history of timelines that have been exacerbated by delays.
Like many advanced nuclear startups, AALO relies on economies of scale to curb both costs and construction times. It says it will build thousands of AALO pod power plants if the company can prove that it works. It consists of five AALO-1 reactors that supply heat to one turbine, generating a total of 50 megawatts of power.
According to the startup, the AALO-X prototype also has an “experimental” data center built next to it. This is a detail that sounds more like a marketing ploy than an innovation.
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Ultimately, Aalo says he aims to power at 3 cents per kilowatt-hour. Startups don’t have timelines at their prices, but there’s a wise move given the previous promises of the nuclear industry.
This week, it’s not the only nuclear startup to create news. Yesterday, Kairos said Tennessee Valley officials agreed to purchase 50 megawatts of generation capacity from the Hermes 2 power plant. Google uses its power to drive data centers.
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