TerraPower Announces $830 Million Secured in 2022
November 3, 2022
BELLEVUE, Washington – November 3, 2022 – TerraPower, a leading nuclear innovation company, has concluded an equity raise of $830 million, the largest private raise among advanced nuclear companies.
The first phase of the fundraise, announced in mid-August of this year, secured $750 million. Since that time, an additional $80 million was raised through additional investors. The fundraise was co-led by SK Inc. and SK Innovation (collectively, “SK”) and TerraPower’s founder, Bill Gates. Additional investors include ArcelorMittal, the world’s leading steel company, which has invested through its XCarb® Innovation Fund and Korea Shipbuilding and Offshore Engineering (“KSOE”), the intermediate holding company of Hyundai Heavy Industries Group’s shipbuilding sector. This fundraise enables the development, demonstration and deployment of TerraPower’s groundbreaking technologies: Natrium® reactor 1, the TerraPower Isotopes® program, and the Molten Chloride Fast Reactor experiment.
“TerraPower is advancing nuclear technologies that will help our country and the world during this important energy transition. We also are excited about our work bringing new cancer treatment options to the market through medical isotope development,” said TerraPower President and CEO Chris Levesque. “We have long had forward-looking and committed investors and the extensive interest we experienced this year in companies joining our investor base reveals the commercial potential of TerraPower’s technology portfolio.”
Irina Gorbounova, head of the XCarb® Innovation Fund at ArcelorMittal, added “Having been in discussions with TerraPower for some time, we have been impressed by the quality and ambition of the company’s technology and people. The XCarb® Innovation Fund which we launched in March last year is designed to invest in the best and brightest innovations which hold the potential to accelerate the world’s transition to net zero and support the decarbonization of our industry, which is intrinsically linked to access an abundant supply of clean energy solutions. TerraPower is therefore a perfect fit for our Innovation Fund, and we are delighted to join its investor base.”
Sam H. Ka, Vice Chairman and CEO of KSOE said “KSOE has been following the development status of SMR technologies for its various applications and decarbonization ability for quite a long time. We are glad to invest in TerraPower and contribute to the global net-zero transition. KSOE, with other affiliates of HHI Group, will continuously seek opportunities that could decarbonize our industry and also support global net-zero transition.”
TerraPower is experiencing significant growth, partially driven by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP) award and the construction of the Natrium demonstration plant at a retiring coal facility in Wyoming. Part of the ARDP award requires a match of 50% of project costs, up to $2 billion. This fundraise contributes materially to the many elements that are required for successful deployment of innovative technologies.
The TerraPower Isotopes (TPI™) program is supporting the transformation of the fight against cancer by advancing the next generation of isotopes. TPI has unique access to Actinium-225 and is working to provide this isotope to the pharmaceutical community for the development of drugs that target and treat cancer.
Credit Suisse acted as the exclusive placement agent to TerraPower. Perkins Coie LLP acted as outside corporate counsel to TerraPower. TerraPower will continue to be a privately held company. Further terms of the fundraise were not disclosed.
[1] A TerraPower and GE Hitachi technology