Bellevue, Wash. — June 14, 2023 – TerraPower has been named to the inaugural XB100, the definitive ranking of the top 100 private deep tech companies, published by XPRIZE and Bessemer Venture Partners.
TerraPower is on a mission to solve the world’s toughest problems in energy, climate and human health through innovative nuclear technologies; and is the only nuclear fission company included in the XB100 list. TerraPower is redefining what nuclear energy can be with the Natrium™ reactor and energy storage system1, an advanced nuclear reactor that provides clean, baseload power and is being demonstrated near a retiring coal plant. With a sodium fast reactor, energy storage and flexible power production, the Natrium technology offers carbon-free energy around the clock. Unlike some of the inflexible next generation nuclear plants under development, the Natrium plant integrates seamlessly into electric grids with high levels of renewables, bringing a unique technology solution to aid the energy transition.
“TerraPower is honored to be recognized by XPRIZE and Bessemer Venture Partners,” said Chris Levesque, TerraPower President and CEO. “At our core we are a mission-driven organization, and our team members are dedicated to creating new solutions to our world’s most pressing issues through nuclear energy and science. We have been experiencing terrific growth as we commercialize and deploy our technology portfolio, and we are eager to bring the Natrium reactor to market within a decade to deliver carbon-free, reliable power to the grid.”
The XB100 was launched to celebrate the entrepreneurs who are commercializing scientific research into deep tech and spotlight how they are impacting our society across nine categories. The XB100 evaluation process involved ranking companies across four factors: impact on humanity, valuation, scientific difficulty, and commercial traction. For impact on humanity, XB100 enlists the help of a judging panel of scientists and industry experts who assist in the evaluation.
“The companies on the XB100 list represent the most valuable and impactful private companies in the deep tech sector,” said Tess Hatch, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “The XB100 awardees defy imagination and will reshape the human experience.”
“Investments in the commercialization of scientific research propel humanity forward,” said David Cowan, partner at Bessemer Venture Partners. “After years of investing in deep technologies ranging from quantum computing to rocket technology to next-generation biotherapeutics, Bessemer has marveled at the potential of XB100 companies to tackle profound problems facing our species and our planet.”
“We’re honored to recognize the innovators featured on the inaugural XB100 and their important impacts on society,” said Anousheh Ansari, CEO of XPRIZE. “As we work to empower problem-solvers around the world to address humanity’s greatest challenges, XPRIZE celebrates these great minds and our collective impact.”
The XB100 list is published online at https://www.bvp.com/xb100.
About TerraPower
TerraPower is a leading nuclear innovation company that strives to improve the world through nuclear energy and science. Since it was founded by Bill Gates and a group of like-minded visionaries, TerraPower has emerged as an incubator and developer of ideas and technologies that offer energy independence, environmental sustainability, medical advancement and other cutting-edge opportunities. It accepts and tackles some of the world’s most difficult challenges. Behind each of its innovations and programs, TerraPower actively works to bring together the strengths and experiences of the world’s public and private sectors to use advanced nuclear to answer pressing global needs. Learn more at https://www.terrapower.com/.
Bessemer Venture Partners
Bessemer Venture Partners helps entrepreneurs lay strong foundations to build and forge long-standing companies. With more than 145 IPOs and 300 portfolio companies in the enterprise, consumer and healthcare spaces, Bessemer supports founders and CEOs from their early days through every stage of growth. Bessemer’s global portfolio has included Pinterest, Shopify, Twilio, Yelp, LinkedIn, PagerDuty, DocuSign, Wix, Fiverr, and Toast and has $20 billion of assets under management. Bessemer has teams of investors and partners located in Tel Aviv, Silicon Valley, San Francisco, New York, London, Hong Kong, Boston, and Bangalore. Born from innovations in steel more than a century ago, Bessemer’s storied history has afforded its partners the opportunity to celebrate and scrutinize its best investment decisions (see Memos) and also learn from its mistakes (see Anti-Portfolio).
XPRIZE
XPRIZE is a global future-positive movement delivering truly radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity. XPRIZE inspires and empowers a global community of problem-solvers to positively impact our world by crowdsourcing solutions through large-scale competitions, tackling the world’s grandest challenges in exploration, environment, and human equity. Donate, learn more or join a team at xprize.org.
[1] A TerraPower and GE Hitachi technology
