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Sam Altman-backed nuclear startup to go public via $500M SPAC

Katie Fehrenbacher
Illustration of a hardhat with an atom on the front.

Illustration: Gabriella Turrisi/Axios

Small nuclear reactor startup Oklo plans to raise up to $500 million and go public via a SPAC by merging with AltC Acquisition Corp, a company co-founded by OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

Why it matters: The offering represents a gutsy bet on the emerging sector of small-scale nuclear reactors, at a time when SPACs have been battered and, for the most part, abandoned during the past year.

Details: Oklo, a Y-Combinator startup co-founded in 2013, says the SPAC plans to close in early 2024 and values the company at a pre-money equity value of $850 million.

  • Sam Altman led the company's Series A round in 2015, when he was also the president of Y-Combinator, and became Oklo's chairman of the board. Altman is also the co-founder of AltC, which is taking Oklo public.
  • Oklo makes small-scale fission-based nuclear reactors, and the company says it will use the funds to ramp up its supply chains and build a pilot-scale production facility.
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