VALAR WATCH
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374 facts · 512 sources · updated 2026-09-30

Fact fund-003

newrecordconfirmed Seed, Feb 2025: $19M per TechCrunch and Contrary, $18M per investor Initialized; Riot led, four others joined
2025-02-19 · fund-003 · Valar Atomics, Riot Ventures, AlleyCorp, Initialized Capital, Day One Ventures, Steel Atlas, Philippine Nuclear Research Institute · seed round (TechCrunch, Contrary): $19,000,000; seed round (Initialized Capital's blog): $18,000,000

The round was made public on 19-20 February 2025. Initialized Capital's own blog post (19 Feb) says it backed an '$18M seed round' alongside Riot Ventures, AlleyCorp, Day One Ventures and Steel Atlas; TechCrunch (Mike Butcher, 20 Feb) reported that Valar had raised $19 million in a seed round led by Riot Ventures, with AlleyCorp, Initialized Capital, Day One Ventures and Steel Atlas participating (orig-020). Contrary Research, itself an investor, gives $19 million with the same lead and participants. Mother Jones names the investor and author Balaji Srinivasan in the seed round (ppl-010). No valuation was reported. The two figures differ by $1 million and no source explains why; Valar did not publish its own figure in any document read. The same TechCrunch article reported an 'initial contract' with the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute under which Valar would pilot a test-scale reactor and build two full-scale reactors before its first integrated reactor came online; Initialized called it the world's first Coordinated Research Project contract with that institute. Outside money also backed that project: GMA News (24 Mar 2025) reports that a U.S. group, EoS Organization, gave a 192-million-peso grant to the Philippine Nuclear Science Foundation in support of Valar's reactor model (orig-064). The latest report read (April 2026) says the project was still seeking approval for a site, and no record of a reactor built in the Philippines was found as of 29 Sept 2026 (orig-064).

In plain termsIn February 2025 Valar raised its first big round, about $18-19 million, led by Riot Ventures. The two published figures differ by a million dollars, a small gap nobody has explained. The funding news cited a signed deal to build reactors in the Philippines; as of the latest report read (April 2026) none had been built there.
verified 2026-09-29: Re-verified 2026-09-29: TechCrunch, Initialized, Contrary and GMA re-read, quotes exact. Date moved to 19 Feb 2025 (Initialized's post, the first public record); the Philippine status is limited to what orig-064 shows (April 2026).

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