Breakthroughs Accelerate Nuclear Fission

Alpha
August 27, 2024

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Robotaxis Roll - GM's self-driving Cruise robotaxis will be available on Uber via a multiyear strategic partnership between the companies.

"Glowtime" - Apple announced an event for September 9 to launch the iPhone16, new Apple Watch models, and the AirPods 4.

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THE HOTTEST THING IN TECH
Breakthroughs Accelerate Nuclear Fission

Part One of a two-part series on investing in the nuclear energy sector.

Is nuclear the future of energy…again? With the rush to green energy and the massive power use of AI, many countries including the US, UK and China are taking another look at nuclear. There are no nuclear fusion power plants in commercial operation, and likely won’t be for a few years yet. But the technology for safer and cheaper fission energy is rapidly advancing. The global nuclear energy market was valued at~$35b in 2021, and is projected to reach $60b by 2030. The small modular reactor market alone is expected to hit $11.3b by 2030.

Funding Fission

VC activity in the more mature tech of fission has been less common than in fusion for decades now. But, this is changing as technological breakthroughs and high power prices make it viable again. Fission is a bet on the need for ways to power legacy systems as Fusion and renewables come online.

A Fission Resurgence

Several countries are including nuclear in their clean energy plans. DOE officials have indicated their support to restart fission reactors across the US. Some 440 reactors supply about 10% of global electricity. The IEA, predicts that will have to triple by 2030 to head off the worst climate effects. Nuclear energy stocks like Constellation and Vistra soared this month after U.S. power prices at power market auctions increased by 9x y-o-y.

Recent Fission Funding

This week, Berkeley startup Deep Fission raised a $4M pre-seed round led by 8VC. The company is placing modular nuclear microreactors deep underground in boreholes and using existing pressurized water reactor technology to create nuclear energy. It utilizes conventional low-enriched uranium fuel. In Europe, UK Nuclear unicorn Newcleo is targeting a $1.1b equity round, and relocating to France tap into EU funds. It plans to build mini nuclear power plants and a lead-cooled fast reactor in France.

Fission Tech to Watch

China is leading the way on rapid innovation. In July Tsinghua University demonstrated the world's first commercial ‘meltdown-proof’ pebble-bed reactor, which can maintain control without power. China also plans to launch the world's first revolutionary thorium molten salt nuclear power station in the Gobi Desert by 2025. Thorium reduces meltdown risks and wastes and doesn’t require water for cooling so is much greener and safer than Uranium. It plans to establish 150 reactors by 2035.

Sam Altman-backed Oklo is developing advanced mini fission reactors, and has partnered with Siemens to accelerate deployment of its tech. Siemens’ Nvidia and OpenAI partnership on industrial metaverse/”digital twin” tech will be leveraged for safety and quality control.

Synergistic industries that may be positively impacted include Uranium and Thorium mining and processing, desalination tech, advanced materials and alloys, waste management, energy storage, robotics and AI/3D internet tech.

Conclusions

Leading VCs in the US investing in fission include Third Way, Bill Gates’ Breakthrough, Lux, SOSV, and 8VC. We expect investor interest in Fission to continue growing as the cost-benefit ratio improves, as Fusion tech is likely too far off to impact immediate climate concerns or power demand.

“Fusion is already too late to deal with the climate crisis. In the short term, we need to use existing low carbon technologies such as fission and renewables, while investing in fusion for the long term, to be part of a diverse low carbon energy mix.”

— Dr Aneeqa Khan, Fellow in nuclear fusion, U. of Manchester

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DEALS WE’RE WATCHING
Closed Deals:

Transparent Ticket Marketplace - New York event ticketing company TickPick received a $250M investment from Brighton Park. Rory McIlroy’s Symphony Ventures also joined as a strategic investor.

RNA Medicines - Vancouver drug developer Borealis Biosciences emerged from stealth with a $150M Series A from Versant Ventures and Novartis AG.

AI-Powered Coding - San Fran AI SWE startup Cursor has raised a $60M Series A from Andreessen Horowitz, Thrive, OpenAI, and the founders of Stripe, Github, Ramp, Perplexity, and OpenAI. It has 30k+ customers and a strong team.

Deals & Companies to Watch:

[Open Round] Eruditus - The Peak XV & Chan Zuckerberg-backed Indian edtech startup is in talks with investors led by TPG for a $150M round targeting a $2.3b valuation contingent on performance targets.

Uber x Instacart - The companies have grown friendly in recent months, raising the question of whether they will move toward a merger.

Funding Buzz Watch:

G Squared - The Chicago-based VC firm with $4b AUM raised $1.1B for its sixth fund to acquire more secondary shares like the $135M of Anthropic shares it bought from FTX.

Dreame Technology - The Chinese smart cleaning appliances manufacturer established a VC arm and plans to raise two funds worth $1.54b to invest in AI and robotics.

The SEC - Increased the threshold of total capital contributions and uncalled committed capital that VC funds must hold to be exempt from registration and regulation from $10M to $12M.