The Nuclear Company raises $46M to develop massive reactor sites

Summary

The Nuclear Company is taking an old approach to building new nuclear reactors. Rather than gin up a new design or try to mass manufacture smaller reactors, it wants to develop a series of reactors using existing designs. The two-year-old startup announced a Series A last month that included investments from CIV, Goldcrest Capital, MCJ Collective, True Ventures, and Wonder Ventures, though it did not disclose the amount raised. Now, TechCrunch can confirm that the company has secured $46.3 million in a Series A fundraise out of a targeted $51.3 million total. The details were published in an SEC filing. The Nuclear Company was founded in 2023 by three serial entrepreneurs: former AppHarvest CEO Jonathan Webb, Arcadia CEO Kiran Bhatraju, and CIV CEO Patrick Maloney. The startup is prioritizing sites that already have permits or licenses to operate. Fewer than a dozen sites fall under that rubric, according to filings for combined operating licenses and early site permits at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. At the sites that are closer to groundbreaking, each can support reactors with more than 1 gigawatt of generation capacity. The Nuclear Company is aiming to develop 6 gigawatts in its first fleet. The funding round arrives as tech companies and utilities are struggling to secure power for data centers. Demand for electricity in the U.S. is expected to surge nearly 16% by 2029, according to Grid Strategies, after years of steady consumption. Data centers are a large driver; their electricity use could quadruple by the end of the decade. In the face of potential power shortages, tech companies have been cozying up to nuclear startups and developers. Google is working with Kairos to build 500 megawatts worth of small modular reactors (SMR), while Amazon participated in a massive $700 million round to fund X-energy’s SMR plans. Meta has solicited proposals from developers to build up to 4 gigawatts of generating capacity, and Microsoft is working with Constellation E...