Reliance Industries, India’s largest private industrial group, has acquired a minority position in TerraPower, a US-based developer of nuclear technologies.
In June, TerraPower said it had visited India’s Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and met with potential investors for its so-called Travelling Wave Reactor (pictured).
This followed the closing of its series B round at more than $35m from venture capital firms Charles River Ventures and Khosla Ventures, which joined TerraPower’s previous backers, such patent-backer Intellectual Ventures co-founder Nathan Myhrvold (former chief technology officer at software company Microsoft) and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.
Last month, Infotel Broadband Services, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries, through affiliate corporate venturing unit Reliance Strategic Investments, acquired a 38.5% stake in Extramarks Education, a local company focused on school education and digital learning.