PiggyGPT

Private companiesCovered

Antares

Torrance, CA · Founded 2023

Antares (Antares Nuclear, Inc.) builds the R1, a TRISO-fueled microreactor cooled by sodium heat pipes, for military installations and space. Its Mark-0 reactor reached criticality at Idaho National Laboratory in June 2026. The Army selected it for Fort Bragg under its Janus program, and the Air Force for Joint Base San Antonio.

Profile

What it builds and who buys it

  • ·The R1 is a modular microreactor rated at 100 kWe to 1 MWe for six or more years. It uses TRISO fuel in a prismatic graphite core, sodium heat pipes for passive heat transfer and a closed nitrogen Brayton cycle for power conversion.Antares (company site)
  • ·The Mark-0 reached initial criticality at Idaho National Laboratory on June 4, 2026, the first advanced reactor taken critical by a private company under the DOE Reactor Pilot Program. The DOE Secretary called it the first privately developed non-light-water reactor to reach criticality in the U.S. in more than four decades.Antares (company release), Jun 4, 2026
  • ·Mark-0 used the same BWXT-fabricated TRISO fuel as the Project Pele military microreactor program, and the company says its data feeds back to Project Pele.Antares (company release), Jun 4, 2026
  • ·The DOE selected Antares in August 2025 as one of 11 projects in its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program.Antares (company update), Aug 13, 2025
  • ·The next reactor, Mark-1, is to produce electricity in 2027 at the same Idaho facility, and the company targets initial deployments to defense customers in 2028.Antares (company release), Jul 27, 2026
  • ·In August 2026 the Army and the Defense Innovation Unit awarded Antares an Other Transaction Authority agreement under the Janus program to own, construct and operate microreactor power at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Janus pays vendors only after they meet defined technical milestones.Antares (company release), Aug 26, 2026
  • ·In April 2026 the Department of the Air Force and the Defense Innovation Unit selected Antares for a proposed prototype microreactor at Joint Base San Antonio under the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations initiative, targeted for 2028 or earlier.Antares (company update), Apr 22, 2026
  • ·In September 2026 the Air Force’s space acquisition office selected Antares for a $161 million Strategic Breakthrough award to ground-test its R1-S space reactor and integrate it with a spacecraft for flight certification. The company calls it the largest current Department of War award in space nuclear power.Antares (company release), Sep 11, 2026
  • ·The chief executive put the value of its Janus, Air Force and Space Force contracts on the order of $1 billion. That is contract value, not revenue.Antares (company release), Aug 26, 2026
  • ·It won three Phase 2 SBIR awards with the Air Force, worth $3.75 million, in September 2024.Antares (company update), Sep 17, 2024
  • ·The DOE selected Antares in August 2026 for its Nuclear Energy Launch Pad program, a pathway to DOE authorization of reactors outside the national laboratories.Antares (company update), Aug 28, 2026
  • ·Antares Prime, its headquarters and factory in Torrance, is expanding from 145,000 to 322,000 square feet, which the company says supports manufacturing its first 50 reactors.Antares (company update), Feb 5, 2026
  • ·The DOE allocated HALEU fuel to Antares in August 2025.Antares (company update), Aug 26, 2025
  • ·It signed long-term HALEU enrichment agreements with Urenco in May 2026 and with General Matter in July 2026.Antares (company update), Jul 2, 2026
  • ·Standard Nuclear agreed in August 2026 to deliver up to eight metric tons of uranium in TRISO fuel to Antares through 2035, under a binding agreement.Antares (company release), Aug 27, 2026
  • ·Centrus Energy signed a multi-year contract in September 2026 to supply Antares with HALEU from before the end of the decade. Antares makes prepayments to Centrus under it.Antares (joint release with Centrus Energy), Sep 17, 2026
  • ·Motion Applied, a UK motorsport electronics supplier, supplies power electronics for its power-conversion system under a September 2026 partnership.Antares (company update), Sep 1, 2026
  • ·Rian Bahran, the DOE’s former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Reactors, joined as chief nuclear officer in July 2026, leading nuclear operations, licensing, government affairs and policy.Antares (company update), Jul 28, 2026
  • ·Every Form D on file declined to disclose revenue.SEC EDGAR (Form D), Aug 18, 2026

Founders and leadership

  • Jordan BrambleCo-founder and chief executive

    His background spans engineering, entrepreneurship and federal policy at the White House Office of Management and Budget. He holds degrees in systems engineering, physics and statistics from George Mason University and Georgetown University.Milken Institute (speaker page)

  • Julia DeWahlCo-founder and director

    The company named her co-founder and president in January 2024, when she co-hosted the Age of Miracles podcast season on nuclear energy with Packy McCormick. The 2023 Form D lists her as an executive officer. The August 2026 Form D lists her as a director and not an executive officer, and she is not on the company’s leadership page.Antares (company update), Jan 30, 2024

Prospects, after the July 2026 Series C

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 15, 2026

  • ·The defense business on file is three government selections: the Army’s Janus agreement at Fort Bragg, the Air Force’s prototype at Joint Base San Antonio, both aimed at 2028, and the Space Force’s $161 million Strategic Breakthrough award. Janus pays on milestones, and the roughly $1 billion the chief executive cited is contract value, not revenue.Antares (company release), Aug 26, 2026
  • ·Those deployments follow the Mark-1, which is to produce electricity in 2027. Mark-0 reached criticality on its stated schedule in June 2026, and no Mark-1 result is on file.Antares (company release), Jul 27, 2026
  • ·Fuel is contracted from several suppliers: a DOE HALEU allocation, enrichment from Urenco, General Matter and Centrus, and TRISO fabrication from Standard Nuclear through 2035.Antares (company release), Aug 27, 2026
  • ·The $470 million Series C, $370 million of it equity, is the largest round on file. No valuation has been stated or reported for any round, and no venue shows a public figure. No revenue figure is on file.Antares (company release), Jul 27, 2026
  • ·For the acquisition read, the ties on file are venture investors, government programs and suppliers, among them BWXT, which fabricated the Mark-0 fuel. No corporate investor, talks or approach are reported. The posture is quiet.

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Funding

Last valuation

No citable valuation

Last round or tender

$370Mraised

Series CAntares (company release), Jul 27, 2026

Announced as $470 million, co-led by Paradigm and Caffeinated Capital, with Point72 Ventures, Shine Capital, Industrious Ventures and others. The company gives the split as $370 million of equity, the amount recorded here, and $100 million of debt. A Form D filed July 28, 2026 records $319,999,537 of equity sold to 24 investors from July 8, 2026, the whole offering, and one filed August 18, 2026 records $59,999,682 sold to 13 investors from August 3, 2026, of an $84,999,666 offering; the release does not say how the filings relate to the round. The company stated no valuation, and TechCrunch reported none.

Latest revenue figure

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Valuation to revenue

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Post-money valuation by round

Fewer than two dated figures on file to plot; the table carries what there is.

DateRoundRaisedPost-money
Jul 27, 2026Series CAnnounced as $470 million, co-led by Paradigm and Caffeinated Capital, with Point72 Ventures, Shine Capital, Industrious Ventures and others. The company gives the split as $370 million of equity, the amount recorded here, and $100 million of debt. A Form D filed July 28, 2026 records $319,999,537 of equity sold to 24 investors from July 8, 2026, the whole offering, and one filed August 18, 2026 records $59,999,682 sold to 13 investors from August 3, 2026, of an $84,999,666 offering; the release does not say how the filings relate to the round. The company stated no valuation, and TechCrunch reported none.$370M—
Dec 2, 2025Series BAnnounced as $96 million, led by Shine Capital, with Alt Capital, Caffeinated, FiftyThree Stations, Industrious and others. TechCrunch reported the split as $71 million of equity, the amount recorded here, and $25 million of debt. The Form D filed September 19, 2025 records $51,045,266 of equity and options sold to 31 investors from September 10, 2025, of a $79,534,995 offering; the company does not say how the filing relates to the round. No valuation was stated.$71M—
Oct 30, 2024Series ACo-led by Alt Cap and Caffeinated Capital, with Rogue, Uncommon Capital, Shrug, Banter Capital, Box Group and Shine Capital. Jack Altman of Alt Cap joined the board. The company put total capital raised at more than $38 million after it. The Form D filed October 9, 2024 records $27,529,968 of equity and options sold to 10 investors from September 24, 2024, the whole offering; the release does not say how the filing relates to the round. No valuation was stated.$30M—
Oct 31, 2023SeedInvestors include Caffeinated Capital, Humba Ventures, Pathbreaker, Rogue VC, Shrug and Uncommon Capital, with angels. The Form D filed October 30, 2023 records $8,116,498 of equity and options sold to 44 investors from October 13, 2023, of an $8,161,498 offering. No valuation was stated.$8M—

Primary capital across the rounds on file: $479M

Revenue

No citable revenue figure on file.

Secondary venues

  • Nasdaq Private Marketpublic page seen Oct 15, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    Listed as Antares, described as Antares Industries. The page shows no figure in its text or its title. Its funding-history table lists rounds from the October 2023 seed to the July 2026 Series C with price per share and valuation behind sign-up.

  • Caplightpublic page seen Oct 15, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    Listed as Antares Nuclear. No public MarketPrice; historical pricing is behind a login, and the page says no recent secondary market data is available. It shows only Caplight’s own funding figures.

  • Jarsypublic page seen Oct 15, 2026

    No price on the public page.

    A tokenized pre-IPO platform. The public page names Antares and shows no token or share price, and its valuation field is empty without an account.

A venue is listed when its public page named the company on the date shown. A price is the figure that page showed, under the venue’s own name for it and dated as the venue dated it; it is a level the venue publishes, not a trade. Nothing is recorded from behind a login.

Reads

Acquisition: Quiet

No cited tie to a buyer. What is on file is contracts, rounds and partnerships without one.

Prepared by PiggyGPT, as of Oct 15, 2026

Signals

  • Oct 30, 2024Antares announced a $30 million Series A co-led by Alt Cap and Caffeinated Capital. Jack Altman of Alt Cap joined the board.Antares (company update), Oct 30, 2024
  • Dec 2, 2025Antares announced a $96 million Series B led by Shine Capital, which TechCrunch reported as $71 million of equity and $25 million of debt. No valuation was stated.TechCrunch, Dec 2, 2025
  • Apr 22, 2026The Department of the Air Force and the Defense Innovation Unit selected Antares for the proposed deployment of a prototype microreactor at Joint Base San Antonio under the Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations initiative.Antares (company update), Apr 22, 2026
  • Jun 4, 2026The Mark-0 reached criticality at Idaho National Laboratory in a demonstration conducted with the DOE, INL and BWX Technologies, which fabricated the TRISO fuel, with integration and observation support from the Army.Antares (company release), Jun 4, 2026
  • Jul 27, 2026Antares announced a $470 million Series C, $370 million of equity and $100 million of debt, co-led by Paradigm and Caffeinated Capital. No valuation was stated.Antares (company release), Jul 27, 2026
  • Aug 26, 2026The Army and the Defense Innovation Unit selected Antares under the Janus program to own, construct and operate microreactor power at Fort Bragg, with milestone-based payments.Antares (company release), Aug 26, 2026
  • Sep 11, 2026The Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Space Acquisition and Integration selected Antares for a $161 million Strategic Breakthrough award to demonstrate a space reactor, by the company’s figure.Antares (company release), Sep 11, 2026

A summary of what the figures on this page add up to, prepared by PiggyGPT from the record on file and its cited sources. Not the Street's view, and not advice.

Sources

Researched Oct 15, 2026