Torrance Firm Antares Raises $96 Million Series B Round for Nuclear Reactor Development
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Antares, a Torrance-based startup focused on micronuclear reactor development, raised $96 million in a Series B round led by Shine Capital, with participation from Alt Capital, Caffeinated, FiftyThree Stations, Industrious and others. The round consists of $71 million in new equity capital and $25 million in debt for equipment, factory build-out and uranium procurement.
“While other microreactor demonstrations are coming online in the next few years, Antares is the only privately funded microreactor planning to produce electricity within the next 24-30 months,” said Jordan Bramble, chief executive of Antares. “We partnered with the Idaho National Laboratory to refurbish a facility that would enable sustained testing most similar to our commercial product.”
The new capital will be used for hardware development, subsystem testing, fuel fabrication, manufacturing, and the infrastructure required to turn on a reactor. It intends to conduct a low-power reactor demonstration, the Mark-0 at Idaho National Laboratory in 2026. That demonstration is a key milestone to a full-scale electricity producing prototype planned for 2027.
Nuclear power is undergoing rapid transformation as demand for power surges and the government seeks reliable sources for military needs as well as NASA’s space program. There are applications in the private sector as well, especially with increased demand for data centers. Recent executive orders support the advancement of the sector, including Executive Order 14301: Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy.
Founded just over two years ago, Antares has now raised more than $130 million in funding to date. It operates from a 145,000-square-foot facility in Torrance capable of producing 10 microreactor units per year. It has secured contracts with the United States Air Force, Space Force, Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), and NASA to advance its technology. The company has additional operations in Idaho Falls, Idaho and Aiken, South Carolina. It now employs 60 people who are working to demonstrate a low-power test reactor before July 4, 2026. Production units will be deployed as early as 2028.
“No nuclear startup has turned on a fission reactor this century. Antares is poised to achieve this milestone in 2026, thanks to their design and licensing maturity, fuel supply chain and swift progress in demonstrating the performance of its underlying components in partnership with Idaho National Lab and NASA,” said Alex Hartz, general partner at Shine Capital, in a statement. “Antares’ reactor will uniquely address needs across defense, space, and critical industries while also serving as a platform for scale-up to higher power.”
In April, Antares was selected by DIU under the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program to provide nuclear power to Department of War installations. In August, it received an allocation of High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) fuel feedstock from the U.S. Department of Energy and was selected for the agency’s new reactor pilot program, which creates a fast-track pathway for reactor demonstration and licensing.
“Through our low power reactor demonstration, and full power electricity producing demonstration in 2027, we’ve stayed laser focused on a path to commercializing fission power systems that solve customer problems and enable net new mission capabilities,” said Bramble. “This is why we’ve remained committed to HALEU enrichment levels, and are using a qualified TRISO fuel spec that is being manufactured today in the United States. It’s the only way to get a truly commercial product out to market on a timeline that is relevant.”
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