Bellevue-based nuclear power company TerraPower has raised $750 million, by far the biggest funding round of the year for a Seattle-area company.
TerraPower co-founder Bill Gates, also chairman of the board and co-founder of Microsoft, co-led the round with SK Inc. and SK Innovation, two subsidiaries of South Korean conglomerate SK Group. In a release, TerraPower said the raise, announced Monday, "yields a minimum of $750 million."
“TerraPower is committed to solving some of the toughest challenges that face this generation through innovation,” TerraPower CEO Chris Levesque said in a release. “Whether it’s addressing climate change with carbon-free advanced nuclear energy, or fighting cancer with nuclear isotopes, our team is deploying technology solutions and investors across the world are taking note.”
On its website, TerraPower has open roles in finance, engineering and quality assurance, among others.
Gates and "like-minded visionaries" in 2006 decided to develop clean energy through the private sector, which led to the launch of TerraPower in 2008, according to the company. TerraPower is developing a variety of renewable energy projects, including a reactor at a retiring coal plant in Wyoming. The company has also entered medical research through its medical isotopes program.
SK Group has dozens of subsidiaries in fields ranging from telecommunications to pharmaceuticals to energy. SK Inc. is an investing arm of the conglomerate, while SK Innovation is focused on energy and chemicals. The two SK subsidiaries invested a combined $250 million, according to the release.
“SK is excited to expand our energy, technology and bioscience investments with leading companies in the U.S.," Moohwan Kim, executive vice president at SK Inc., said in a release. "We see important synergies in our businesses, and this investment reinforces our strategic global carbon reduction goals.”
TerraPower's massive round continues a big year for renewable energy companies in the Seattle area. In May, Woodinville-based battery tech company Group14 Technologies raised $400 million, and Everett-based fusion company Zap Energy raised $160 million in June. Everett-based fusion company Helion, meanwhile, raised $500 million in November.
