Alexander van der Touw joins Thorizon as Chief Financial Officer.

Bringing Unique Tech and Scale-Up Expertise

Alexander van der Touw brings over 25 years of financial leadership experience, particularly within the deep tech and scale-up sectors. With a proven track record in scaling international technology companies, Alexander has successfully navigated numerous financial transactions, including the high-profile exit of smart lens maker Luxexcel to Meta. His extensive expertise in equity and subsidy fundraising, through leadership roles at Ioniqa, Luxexcel, IET, and PNO, will be instrumental as Thorizon embarks on its next chapter. During his tenure as CFO-in-residence at YesDelft, the incubator of Delft University of Technology, he learned what makes a company successful from the start. As a computer scientist, he combines analytical skills with hands-on experience to drive scale-up growth.

Currently Fundraising for Next Growth Phase

Thorizon, with its 40-member team in Amsterdam and Lyon, is gearing up for its next growth phase, focusing on fundraising and development. This summer, Thorizon completed the concept design of the Thorizon One and initiated preparatory reviews with nuclear regulators in the Netherlands and France. The upcoming milestone involves iteratively building the first prototype of the molten salt cartridges, Thorizon's unique patented technology that mitigates corrosion risks and accelerates time to market, as well as finalizing the basic design and preparing the initial preliminary safety report (ISAR).

Previous Fundraising and Grant Achievements

In the summer of 2022, Thorizon successfully raised €12.5 million in its first funding round, backed by prominent investors including Positron Ventures, Invest-NL, and the investment agencies of Zeeland (Impuls) and North Holland (PDENH). This funding has been instrumental in advancing Thorizon's molten salt reactor technology. Additionally, Thorizon received a €10 million grant from the French government as part of the France 2030 nuclear innovation program. The initial fundraising efforts were led by Arthur van Wylick, who has served as Thorizon’s external CFO up to now.

Kiki Lauwers, CEO of Thorizon, stated, "We are super excited to welcome Alexander to the team; his experience in finance and deep tech is truly unique. We have come to know him as a driven, energetic, and no-nonsense finance leader. He brings a fresh perspective and new background to our management team, and we look forward to working with him. I would also like to extend our sincere thanks to Arthur for his outstanding support over the past years."

Alexander van der Touw shared his enthusiasm for the role: “Joining Thorizon at this pivotal moment is an incredible opportunity. Thorizon’s innovative approach to nuclear energy, particularly through its molten salt technology, has the potential to revolutionize the industry. I look forward to working with this talented team to drive the company’s growth, secure the necessary funding, and help bring this groundbreaking technology to market.”

About Thorizon 

Thorizon has rapidly evolved from a spin-off of NRG (Dutch Nuclear Research Institute) into an ambitious deep-tech startup, with offices in Amsterdam and Lyon. The company views small modular nuclear reactors as an ideal, stable, and clean contributor to an energy system where wind and solar are the other important sources. The ambition is to develop a reactor based on molten salt that can be realized rapidly and smartly, is ’walk-away’ safe, and takes a first step towards circularity by using long-lived nuclear waste as a fuel source. Thorizon is working to further strengthen its financial position to be able to build a non-nuclear molten salt demonstrator in the short term and finalize the detailed design to start building a first-of-a-kind reactor by 2030: the Thorizon One. Thorizon partners with industry leaders like Orano, Tractebel and EDF to advance its design and is a laureate in the France 2030 investment plan for innovative nuclear reactors.