Advanced nuclear startup X-energy files for IPO
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X-energy CEO Clay Sell in 2024. Photo: Chuck McCutcheon/Axios
Nuclear startup X-energy said Friday it is going public.
Why it matters: The move is a signal that advanced nuclear has gained a strong financial foothold thanks to accelerating public and political support.
- CEO Clay Sell told Axios in 2024 that the company intended to go public via a traditional IPO in the next two to four years.
Driving the news: The company said in its filing with the SEC that its technology will "help satisfy historically unprecedented electricity demand growth, driven by the development of AI and associated data center infrastructure."
- The company is seeking a Nasdaq listing under the symbol "XE."
- The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined, the company said.
Context: The filing is the latest in a string of high-profile financial moves for the Rockville, Md.-based company.
- In 2024, it closed a $500 million round led by Amazon's Climate Pledge Fund. Amazon will deploy four reactors that will together generate about 320 megawatts of electricity starting in the early 2030s, Amazon said.
- Last fall, X-energy closed a $700 million Series D round led by Jane Street.
- It has worked with Dow to deploy four reactors at the chemical giant's Seadrift Operations site in Texas by 2030, a project receiving up to $1.23 billion in DOE funding.
How it works: X-energy has designed a high-temperature, gas-cooled modular reactor and the fuel the reactor uses.
- The company licenses its reactor designs and plans to manufacture the fuel needed for the reactors.
- The idea behind small modular reactors is that they can be built in factories and delivered to project areas quickly and for a lower cost compared to a traditional large centralized nuclear plant.
