Bluecore Energy announced an oversubscribed $50 million seed round on Tuesday, coming just months after a $10 million pre-seed and emerging from stealth earlier this year. The company, founded by Kofi Asante, builds small nuclear reactors (SMRs) on floating barges to generate clean energy for ports and nearby infrastructure, allowing power to be moved where it is needed.
Asante framed the approach as a proven concept adapted for smaller, more mobile deployments: “The Navy is doing this as we speak, for the last 70 years, and has never had an accident,” he said. “We just made it smaller, so you can actually move things around in a way that doesn’t take years” — or a new set of infrastructure — ”but days.”
Bluecore Energy funding, investors and timing
The round was oversubscribed and included follow-on investments from several pre-seed backers. Slauson & Co., Harlem Capital, and Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen doubled down, while new capital came from Collab Capital, Kevin Hart’s HartBeat Ventures, and angel investors from Tesla, Uber, Amazon, and Google. Silverton Partners led the seed and the raise closed in eight weeks.
“I just kept having to figure out a way to make more room” — on the cap table, Asante said — adding that he had not anticipated raising that level of capital in that period but welcomed the strong investor interest.
Ports, partnerships and regulatory review
When it emerged from stealth in July, Bluecore became the first nuclear company headquartered at a major port, the Port of Long Beach. The company has launched two floating barges and struck partnerships with the Department of Transportation Maritime Division, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), and the U.S. Coast Guard. Bluecore is undergoing review with the NRC and the Coast Guard on its product design; if the review is successful, it would lead to certification of the floating nuclear power plant.
“We have been talking to them both since the inception of the company and design, but officially started the formal engagement in August,” Asante said.
Use of proceeds and operational challenges
The new capital will fund product development, regulatory work, nuclear fuel purchases, and hiring. Asante identified the supply chain as the biggest challenge: securing hardware to build portable electricity infrastructure rapidly enough to meet demand. He said Bluecore has seen inbound interest from “multiple ports, AI data centers and communities that need clean energy and water.”
“Our team comes from SpaceX, Rivian, and Toyota, so we are applying similar strategies to be able to secure critical parts,” he said. “We already have barges and a reactor and are now about to order nuclear fuel to go to our partner at a national nuclear lab.”
Asante framed the effort as a mission to broaden access: “to democratize access to clean energy.” He added, “My philosophy is that access to clean energy and also clean water should be a human right.”
