Bluecore Energy Raises $10M to Power AI Data Centers With Floating Nuclear Reactors
Maritime nuclear startup Bluecore Energy raised $10 million in pre-seed funding to build barge-mounted small modular reactors that deliver clean, off-grid power to ports and AI data centers.
Bluecore Energy, a maritime clean technology startup founded by former Uber Freight executive Kofi Asante, has closed a $10 million pre-seed funding round. Slauson & Co. led the investment, with Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, and HartBeat Ventures also participating. The company is building small modular nuclear reactors mounted on floating barges to deliver clean, off-grid electricity to coastal infrastructure and AI data centers.
Founded seven months ago, Bluecore packages established water-cooled nuclear technology into compact, mobile units. Each barge-mounted reactor generates electricity by heating water into steam that drives turbines inside a closed-loop system. The company says its floating power units can operate for several years before requiring refueling. Once deployed, the barges dock near ports or offshore locations and connect to local grids or industrial facilities through subsea power cables.
The global expansion of generative AI has created a serious energy bottleneck for technology companies. Data centers housing tens of thousands of high-performance GPUs require continuous, high-density power that traditional grids struggle to supply reliably. Tech companies building hyperscale facilities face lengthy delays connecting to municipal power systems, while local communities raise concerns about the heavy water and electricity demands of large computing operations.
Bluecore's approach is to move power generation directly to the water. Asante has noted that floating nuclear plants give AI data center operators dedicated electricity without competing with residential grids onshore. Positioning reactors at sea also provides direct access to cooling water while keeping energy supply isolated from terrestrial infrastructure. A single Bluecore barge is designed to produce enough electricity for approximately 15,000 homes or a major industrial port. The company has already acquired a port terminal, a barge, and a test reactor pressure vessel to validate its hardware and software designs.
Deploying nuclear reactors on water introduces complex regulatory and safety requirements. Bluecore is working with regulatory agencies to integrate multiple safety layers into its floating platforms, securing uranium fuel inside thick steel pressure vessels reinforced with concrete shielding and heavy steel linings. By building on water-cooled designs with decades of use in naval and commercial maritime settings, the company is betting it can move through the commercial approval process faster than land-based nuclear projects typically allow.
Africa Angle
For African nations, portable nuclear energy presents a practical blueprint for addressing chronic power deficits and expanding local digital infrastructure. Sub-Saharan Africa's persistent grid instability has historically confined large-scale data center construction to a handful of markets, primarily South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya. Barge-mounted reactors could bypass fragile onshore grids entirely, allowing coastal cities across West and East Africa to host energy-intensive computing infrastructure without waiting for terrestrial grid upgrades that rarely arrive on schedule. As African technology ecosystems push to train regional AI models and build sovereign data hubs, off-grid nuclear innovation offers a credible route around the continent's legacy power constraints.
Solving the AI energy crunch demands a fundamental rethink of power logistics, and moving nuclear reactors to sea offers a pragmatic answer to land-based grid congestion that coastal nations cannot afford to ignore.
Source: TechCrunch
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