Latest news with #BillGates
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
TerraPower Lands $650 Million From Nvidia
Bill Gatesbacked TerraPower has closed a $650 million round led by Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) NVentures to fuel its first Natrium reactor as AI's power demands surge. The funding, which brings Nvidia's venture arm alongside existing investors like Gates and HD Hyundai, comes as TerraPower advances toward regulatory approval for its Natrium plantpoised to be the U.S.'s inaugural commercial advanced nuclear facility with modular, streamlined construction. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with NVDA. Non-nuclear work kicked off last year, and with construction ramping up, this capital infusion will cover engineering, licensing and early site development. UBS (NYSE:UBS) served as the exclusive placement agent, and TerraPower remains privately held. As AI and data centers gobble electricity, reliable, carbon-free power is critical. Nvidia's entry signals tech leaders betting on next-gen nuclear to meet soaring energy needs. If Natrium succeeds, it could reshape the energy landscapeproviding stable baseload that complements intermittent renewables and fuels compute-hungry AI. Watch for TerraPower's licensing milestones and initial reactor blueprints next year. Success could pave the way for similar modular plants worldwideand cement nuclear's role in powering tomorrow's AI revolution. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
TerraPower Lands $650 Million From Nvidia
Bill Gatesbacked TerraPower has closed a $650 million round led by Nvidia's (NASDAQ:NVDA) NVentures to fuel its first Natrium reactor as AI's power demands surge. The funding, which brings Nvidia's venture arm alongside existing investors like Gates and HD Hyundai, comes as TerraPower advances toward regulatory approval for its Natrium plantpoised to be the U.S.'s inaugural commercial advanced nuclear facility with modular, streamlined construction. Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with NVDA. Non-nuclear work kicked off last year, and with construction ramping up, this capital infusion will cover engineering, licensing and early site development. UBS (NYSE:UBS) served as the exclusive placement agent, and TerraPower remains privately held. As AI and data centers gobble electricity, reliable, carbon-free power is critical. Nvidia's entry signals tech leaders betting on next-gen nuclear to meet soaring energy needs. If Natrium succeeds, it could reshape the energy landscapeproviding stable baseload that complements intermittent renewables and fuels compute-hungry AI. Watch for TerraPower's licensing milestones and initial reactor blueprints next year. Success could pave the way for similar modular plants worldwideand cement nuclear's role in powering tomorrow's AI revolution. This article first appeared on GuruFocus. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
12 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'My Baby Can't Sleep' – Bill Gates Demolished A $43 Million Mansion To Create A Bachelor Pad— Neighbors Were Annoyed And Called It A 'Nuisance'
Benzinga and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue on some items through the links below. Back in 2020, Bill and Melinda Gates purchased a $43 million oceanfront estate in Del Mar, California. The six-bedroom, 3.5-bath property was described in real estate listings as a "masterpiece" designed by architect Ken Ronchetti. But the view didn't last long. Following their divorce announcement in 2021, Gates tore the property down. According to the New York Post, the Microsoft co-founder decided to rebuild the home from scratch, planning a modern "bachelor pad" loaded with custom tech upgrades. That decision didn't go over quietly—literally. Don't Miss: Maker of the $60,000 foldable home has 3 factory buildings, 600+ houses built, and big plans to solve housing — Deloitte's fastest-growing software company partners with Amazon, Walmart & Target – Construction reportedly began in early 2022 and quickly became a source of frustration for the surrounding community. Neighbors reportedly told the Post that Gates' crew caused constant noise and disruption. "It's been a nuisance," one neighbor said. Another added, "They make a lot of noise; my baby can't sleep. It's become a real hindrance on the whole neighborhood." The teardown surprised some in the high-end real estate world. The original house was only a decade old and had been lauded for its clean lines, open design, and prime location just steps from the sand. But Gates—who also owns an expansive smart estate in Medina, Washington worth an estimated $130 million—opted to build something entirely new on the Del Mar lot, this time reportedly tailored to his post-divorce lifestyle. Del Mar's building regulations are notoriously strict, with environmental and zoning hurdles that often stall projects for years. Even so, Gates secured the necessary permits and, according to neighbors quoted by the Post, made at least two visits to the property during construction. They recalled him arriving with a full security detail and a pair of bulletproof Suburbans—part of a process that, they said, disrupted the quiet neighborhood from the moment demolition began. Trending: , which provides access to a pool of short-term loans backed by residential real estate with just a $100 minimum. For real estate watchers, the episode raised questions about the tradeoff between modern redevelopment and community impact. Gates had the freedom—and budget—to start over. But for the neighbors, the construction was a four-letter word. It's not clear how long the build took or whether Gates ever moved in. But one thing is certain: a billionaire's dream home can come at the cost of someone else's peace and quiet—especially when jackhammers replace ocean waves. Although the Del Mar rebuild wrapped up years ago, Gates has remained active in the high-end real estate market. In March 2024, a midcentury modern home he owned in Medina quietly sold for $4.9 million just days after hitting the market. For someone worth well over $100 billion, trading properties might seem like par for the course. But in Del Mar, it was a reminder that even the quietest beachfront paradise isn't immune to the noise of a billionaire renovation. One man's bachelor pad is another neighbor's sleep-deprived nightmare. Read Next: With Point, you can Peter Thiel turned $1,700 into $5 billion—now accredited investors are eyeing this software company with similar breakout potential. Learn how you can Image: Shutterstock This article 'My Baby Can't Sleep' – Bill Gates Demolished A $43 Million Mansion To Create A Bachelor Pad— Neighbors Were Annoyed And Called It A 'Nuisance' originally appeared on
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Every fusion startup that has raised over $100M
Over the last several years, fusion power has gone from the butt of jokes — always a decade away! — to an increasingly tangible and tantalizing technology that has drawn investors off the sidelines. The technology may be challenging to master and expensive to build today, but fusion promises to harness the nuclear reaction that powers the sun to generate nearly limitless energy here on Earth. If startups are able to complete commercially viable fusion power plants, then they have the potential to upend trillion-dollar markets. The bullish wave buoying the fusion industry has been driven by three advances: more powerful computer chips, more sophisticated AI, and powerful high-temperature superconducting magnets. Together, they have helped deliver more sophisticated reactor designs, better simulations, and more complex control schemes. It doesn't hurt that, at the end of 2022, a U.S. Department of Energy lab announced that it had produced a controlled fusion reaction that produced more power than the lasers had imparted to the fuel pellet. The experiment had crossed what's known as scientific breakeven, and while it's still a long ways from commercial breakeven, where the reaction produces more than the entire facility consumes, it was a long-awaited step that proved the underlying science was sound. Founders have built on that momentum in recent years, pushing the private fusion industry forward at a rapid pace. With a $1.8 billion Series B, Commonwealth Fusion Systems catapulted itself into the pole position in 2021. Since then, the company has been quiet on the fundraising front (no surprise), but it has been hard at work in Massachusetts building Sparc, its first-of-a-kind power plant intended to produce power at what it calls 'commercially relevant' levels. Sparc's reactor uses a tokamak design, which resembles a doughnut. The D-shaped cross section is wound with high-temperature superconducting tape, which when energized, generates a powerful magnetic field that will contain and compress the superheated plasma. In Sparc's successor, the commercial-scale Arc, heat generated from the reaction is converted to steam to power a turbine. CFS designed its magnets in collaboration with MIT, where co-founder and CEO Bob Mumgaard worked as a researcher on fusion reactor designs and high-temperature superconductors. Backed by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, The Engine, Bill Gates, and others, Devens, Massachusetts-based CFS expects to have Arc operational in the early 2030s. The company has raised a total of $2 billion, according to PitchBook. Founded in 1998, TAE Technologies (formerly known as Tri Alpha Energy) was spun out of the University of California, Irvine by Norman Rostoker. It uses a field-reversed configuration, but with a twist: after the two plasma shots collide in the middle of the reactor, the company bombards the plasma with particle beams to keep it spinning in a cigar shape. That improves the stability of the plasma, allowing more time for fusion to occur and for more heat to be extracted to spin a turbine. The company raised $150 million in June from existing investors, including Google, Chevron, and New Enterprise. TAE has raised $1.79 billion in total, according to PitchBook. Of all fusion startups, Helion has the most aggressive timeline. The company plans to produce electricity from its reactor in 2028. Its first customer? Microsoft. Helion, based in Everett, Washington, uses a type of reactor called a field-reversed configuration, where magnets surround a reaction chamber that looks like an hourglass with a bulge at the point where the two sides come together. At each end of the hourglass, they spin the plasma into doughnut shapes that are shot toward each other at more than 1 million mph. When they collide in the middle, additional magnets help induce fusion. When fusion occurs, it boosts the plasma's own magnetic field, which induces an electrical current inside the reactor's magnetic coils. That electricity is then harvested directly from the machine. The company raised $425 million in January 2025, around the same time that it turned on Polaris, a prototype reactor. Helion has raised $1.03 billion, according to PitchBook. Investors include Sam Altman, Reid Hoffman, KKR, BlackRock, Peter Thiel's Mithril Capital Management, and Capricorn Investment Group. Pacific Fusion burst out of the gate with a $900 million Series A, a whopping sum even among well-funded fusion startups. The company will use inertial confinement to achieve fusion, but instead of lasers compressing the fuel, it will use coordinated electromagnetic pulses. The trick is in the timing: All 156 impedance-matched Marx generators need to produce 2 terawatts for 100 nanoseconds, and those pulses need to simultaneously converge on the target. The company is led by CEO Eric Lander, the scientist who led the Human Genome Project, and president Will Regan. Pacific Fusion's funding might be massive, but the startup hasn't gotten it all at once. Rather, its investors will pay out in tranches when the company achieves specified milestones, an approach that's common in biotech. Shine Technologies is taking a cautious — and possibly pragmatic — approach to generating fusion power. Selling electrons from a fusion power plant is years off, so instead, it's starting by selling neutron testing and medical isotopes. More recently, it has been developing a way to recycle radioactive waste. Shine hasn't picked an approach for a future fusion reactor, instead saying that it's developing necessary skills for when that time comes. The company has raised a total of $778 million, according to PitchBook. Investors include Energy Ventures Group, Koch Disruptive Technologies, Nucleation Capital, and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation. Now its third-decade, General Fusion has raised $440.53 million, according to PitchBook. The Richmond, British Columbia-based company was founded in 2002 by physicist Michel Laberge, who wanted to prove a different approach to fusion known as magnetized target fusion (MTF). Investors include Jeff Bezos, Temasek, BDC Capital, and Chrysalix Venture Capital. In an General Fusion's reactor, a liquid metal wall surrounds a chamber in which plasma is injected. Pistons surrounding the wall push it inward, compressing the plasma inside and sparking a fusion reaction. The resulting neutrons heat the liquid metal, which can be circulated through a heat exchanger to generate steam to spin a turbine. General Fusion hit a rough patch in spring 2025. The company ran short of cash as it was building LM26, its latest device that it hoped would hit breakeven in 2026. Just days after hitting a key milestone, it laid off 25% of its staff. Tokamak Energy takes the usual tokamak design — the doughnut shape — and squeezes it, reducing its aspect ratio to the point where the outer bounds start resembling a sphere. Like many other tokamak-based startups, the company uses high-temperature superconducting magnets (of the rare earth barium copper oxide, or REBCO, variety). Since its design is more compact than a traditional tokamak, it requires less in the way of magnets, which should reduce costs. The Oxfordshire, UK-based startup's ST40 prototype, which looks like a large, steampunk Fabergé egg, generated an ultra-hot, 100 million degree C plasma in 2022. Its next generation, Demo 4, is currently under construction and is intended to test the company's magnets in 'fusion power plant-relevant scenarios.' Tokamak Energy raised $125 million in November 2024 to continue its reactor design efforts and expand its magnet business. In total, the company has raised $336 million from investors including Future Planet Capital, In-Q-Tel, Midven, and Capri-Sun founder Hans-Peter Wild, according to PitchBook. Zap Energy isn't using high-temperature superconducting magnets or super-powerful lasers to keep its plasma confined. Rather, it zaps the plasma (get it?) with an electric current, which then generates its own magnetic field. The magnetic field compresses the plasma about 1 millimeter, at which point ignition occurs. The neutrons released by the fusion reaction bombard a liquid metal blanket that surrounds the reactor, heating it up. The liquid metal is then cycled through a heat exchanger, where it produces steam to drive a turbine. Like Helion, Zap Energy is based in Everett, Washington, and the company has raised $327 million, according to PitchBook. Backers include Bill Gates' Breakthrough Energy Ventures, DCVC, Lowercarbon, Energy Impact Partners, Chevron Technology Ventures, and Bill Gates as an angel. Most investors have favored large startups that are pursuing tokamak designs or some flavor of inertial confinement. But stellarators have shown great promise in scientific experiments, including the Wendelstein 7-X reactor in Germany. Proxima Fusion is bucking the trend, though, having attracted a €130 million Series A that brings its total raised to more than €185 million. Investors include Balderton Capital and Cherry Ventures. Stellarators are similar to tokamaks in that they confine plasma in a ring-like shape using powerful magnets. But they do it with a twist — literally. Rather than force plasma into a human-designed ring, stellarators twist and bulge to accommodate the plasma's quirks. The result should be a plasma that remains stable for longer, increasing the chances of fusion reactions. Marvel Fusion follows the inertial confinement approach, the same basic technique that the National Ignition Facility used to prove that controlled nuclear fusion reactions could produce more power than was needed to kick them off. Marvel fires powerful lasers at a target embedded with silicon nanostructures that cascade under the bombardment, compressing the fuel to the point of ignition. Because the target is made using silicon, it should be relatively simple to manufacture, leaning on the semiconductor manufacturing industry's decades of experience. The inertial confinement fusion startup is building a demonstration facility in collaboration with Colorado State University, which it expects to have operational by 2027. Munich-based Marvel has raised a total of $161 million from investors including b2venture, Deutsche Telekom, Earlybird, HV Capital, and Taavet Hinrikus and Albert Wenger as angels. First Light dropped its pursuit of fusion power in March 2025, pivoting instead to become a technology supplier to fusion startups and other companies. The startup had previously followed an approach known as inertial confinement, in which fusion fuel pellets are compressed until they ignite. First Light, which is based in Oxfordshire, U.K., has raised $140 million, according to PitchBook, from investors including Invesco, IP Group, and Tencent. Though nothing about fusion can be described as simple, Xcimer takes a relatively straightforward approach: follow the basic science that's behind the National Ignition Facility's breakthrough net-positive experiment, and redesign the technology that underpins it from the ground up. The Colorado-based startup is aiming for a 10-megajoule laser system, five times more powerful than NIF's setup that made history. Molten salt walls surround the reaction chamber, absorbing heat and protecting the first solid wall from damage. Founded in January 2022, Xcimer has already raised $109 million, according to PitchBook, from investors including Hedosophia, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Emerson Collective, Gigascale Capital, and Lowercarbon Capital. This story was originally published in September 2024 and will be continually updated. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Euronews
14 hours ago
- Business
- Euronews
Bill Gates in Brussels next week for vaccine push with the EU
Bill Gates will visit Brussels next week to participate in a Gavi vaccine alliance summit together with EU leaders to pledge provision of vaccine purchases for developing countries in an event co-hosted by The Gates Foundation and the European Union. The goal of the event is to collect €9 billion between 2026 and 2030. Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, will likely represent the EU at the event. Gavi is a global vaccine alliance bringing together public and private actors that help vaccinate more than half the world's children against some of the deadliest diseases. The Gates Foundation, alongside the European Union, is its biggest sponsor. Gavi intends to immunise at least 500 million children in the next five years. This, according to their press release, would save 8-9 million lives. It is not immediately clear how much the EU will contribute to this plan financially. The EU has provided €3.2 billion in financing to Gavi since 2003. There was enhanced cooperation between the two during the coronavirus pandemic in the COVAX programme. EU institutions together with individual member states have also contributed €2.55 billion to Gavi's programmes, amounting to one third of the budget of the campaign. 'When the Gates Foundation made its first investment in Gavi 25 years ago, I couldn't have predicted the extraordinary impact it would have on combatting infectious diseases, lifting up economies and saving lives,' said Bill Gates in a press release announcing the summit in Brussels. "Together with Gavi, we have the goal to vaccinate 500 million children by 2030. That is why the European Union is proud to co-host Gavi's High-Level Pledging Summit in Brussels. Our support will remain steadfast,' von der Leyen is cited in the release as saying. Besides the Gavi's pledging summit, Bill Gates will also have other agenda items in Brussels, participating on Tuesday in a debate with MEPs on the European Parliament's Development Committee. The discussion will focus on assistance and innovation as drivers for improving health and living standards in the Global South. The press release of the Parliament adds that several international donors, like the United States and several EU countries, are cutting their aid budgets. The European Parliament has backed the mandatory microchipping of all cats and dogs across the EU, in a bid to reduce fraud and improve the enforcement of animal welfare standards. This brings the EU a step closer to setting minimum common standards for the breeding and keeping of cats and dogs, after the vote on amendments to the European Commission's original proposal. This vote paves the way for negotiations with EU ministers, who had already adopted their position last year. Currently, pet registration is mandatory in 24 EU member states, but the systems are fragmented. Only a private initiative, Europetnet, links national and regional databases in 17 countries. MEPs also proposed that dogs and cats imported from non-EU countries for sale must be microchipped before entry and registered in a national database. "This marks a clear move against illegal breeding and the irresponsible importation of animals from outside the EU," said Veronika Vrecionová, the Czech conservative MEP who acted as rapporteur on the file. Animal welfare organisations hailed the vote as a major breakthrough, noting that the law would ensure basic standards - including proper feeding, veterinary care and protection from abuse - helping eliminate unregulated backyard breeding and abusive puppy and kitten mills. Some earlier amendments by MEPs had sparked concerns for potentially facilitating illegal trade. However, animal welfare NGOs confirmed these issues were resolved in the final plenary vote. Crucially, the Parliament went beyond the Commission's original proposal by calling for full identification and registration of all kept cats and dogs, not just those placed on the market. "MEPs have finally taken a step today that we've been waiting for for years, one that could end the illegal pet trade once and for all in Europe," said Joe Moran, European office director for FOUR PAWS International. To prevent the exploitation of animals, MEPs also want to limit the number of litters a female animal can have during her lifetime. The rules would apply universally to all breeders, regardless of their size. In particular, the European Parliament took a positive step by including small breeders in the scope of the proposal, according to Iwona Mertin, companion animals programme leader at Eurogroup for Animals. "This is significant, especially in countries where 80% of breeders produce fewer than four litters per year. Without this, a major loophole would remain," she said. There are currently 127 million cats and 104 million dogs in the EU, with about 44% of households owning a pet. The sector's annual value is estimated at €1.3 billion, according to EU Commission data. MEPs also left the door open to extending the law's protections to other companion animals in the future, by supporting the creation of a so-called "Positive List," namely a list that would allow only species deemed suitable to be kept and sold as pets. Final negotiations between the Parliament and EU ministers are expected to begin soon, marking the last phase before the law can be adopted.
