Bluecore Energy raises $10 million for barge-based nuclear power

Bluecore Energy said Tuesday it raised $10 million in pre-seed funding to develop small nuclear reactors installed on floating barges. For investors watching the power demands behind AI and electrification, the deal points to a younger corner of clean energy: portable nuclear generation near heavy electricity users.

Slauson & Co. led the round, according to Bluecore. Other backers include Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Hartbeat Ventures, the investment arm tied to actor Kevin Hart, and several angel investors.

The company was started seven months ago by Kofi Asante, who previously worked at Uber Freight. Bluecore is focused on maritime nuclear power, meaning reactors placed on water rather than built as traditional land-based plants.

Its planned product uses small modular reactors, or SMRs. An SMR is a smaller nuclear reactor design intended to be built in repeatable units and deployed with less site-specific construction than a conventional nuclear plant. Bluecore’s version would sit on a barge and supply power to ports, nearby infrastructure or communities through connections such as subsea cables, according to Asante.

How Bluecore says the system would work

Asante has described Bluecore’s reactor design as a water-cooled, closed-loop system. In plain English, the reactor heats water, the steam helps drive a generator, and that generator spins a turbine to produce electricity. A closed-loop design means the cooling water circulates within the system rather than being continuously drawn in and discharged.

Asante said the barge-based setup could be moved by ship to another location. He also claimed that relocating the system this way would bring transport-related emissions for the power source down to zero. According to Asante, the nuclear plant system would need refueling only once every few years.

Bluecore’s target is to generate enough electricity to serve the equivalent of about 15,000 homes, or to scale the system for the needs of a large port, Asante told TechCrunch.

The company says it will use the new funding to deploy its product. Asante said Bluecore has already obtained a port terminal, a barge and a test reactor pressure vessel. He said the test vessel lets the company run water-flow simulations for the cooling system, while combining hardware and software tests to check the base design.

Safety and demand are central to the pitch

Nuclear startups face a high bar because their products must satisfy regulators and public safety concerns before they can operate commercially. Asante said Bluecore is working with regulatory agencies as it designs its first product.

He said the company is building multiple safety layers into the system, including uranium cladding, a thick steel pressure vessel, concrete shielding and steel lining. Asante also said Bluecore is relying on water-cooled nuclear technology with a long operating history.

Asante has framed data centers as a potential customer base. He said executives at AI data centers have told him that a dedicated offshore electricity and water source could reduce their need to draw those resources from surrounding communities.

The funding does not prove Bluecore can commercialize floating nuclear power, and the company did not announce a launch date or customer contract. It does show that investors are willing to fund early-stage nuclear infrastructure ideas as power demand becomes a larger constraint for ports, communities and AI computing projects.

This story draws on original reporting from TechCrunch.