Geothermal unicorn Fervo Energy may IPO as early as next year

Geothermal startup Fervo Energy is reportedly eyeing an initial public offering in the next two years.

Driving the consideration is the growing concern over power demand growth from data centers, which could double by 2029. “There’s clearly a huge hunger in the public markets right now to figure out, how are we going to solve the power demand story?” CEO Tim Latimer said to Axios.

Despite the talk, an IPO is unlikely to be imminent.

The startup is in an “awesome spot” right now given its recent fundraising success, a source close to Fervo told TechCrunch. The company raised $244 million in February 2024 and another $255 million in December, the latter round with a roughly even split between equity and debt.

Fervo has been making steady progress on commercializing its approach to geothermal power, which uses directional drilling techniques developed by oil and gas companies to tap resources over a wide area. Each well is then laced with sensors and fiber optic cables, allowing the company to keep an eye on its performance over time.

The startup has been racing to bring down drilling costs. Last year, it said it had drilled a horizontal well in 21 days, 70% less time than it took for its first well. And last week, Latimer said that Fervo is targeting a 50% cost reduction on projects this year.

Fervo is currently working with Google on a first-of-its-kind geothermal power plant. Known as Project Red, it can supply up to 3.5 megawatts of electricity to the Nevada grid, helping to offset Google data centers’ power use in the state.

Because Fervo and other advanced geothermal startups are similar in many ways to oil and gas companies, they’re thought to be a somewhat safer play during the current Trump administration. For example, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright oversaw an investment into Fervo while he was CEO of Liberty Energy. The oilfield services company participated in a $138 million round in 2022.

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