Bluecore Energy, a startup founded just seven months ago by former Uber Freight executive Kofi Asante, announced on July 21, 2026 that it has raised $10 million in early funding. The round was led by Slauson & Co. TechCrunch

Other investors included Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Kevin Hart's Hartbeat Ventures, and a group of individual investors. For an early funding round — the kind that happens before a company has a finished product — $10 million is a large amount. It usually means investors are backing more than just an idea.

Bluecore is building small nuclear reactors that would sit on floating barges. Think of a barge as a flat-bottomed boat that can be towed to a location and parked there. The reactors use water to stay cool in a system that reuses the same water rather than dumping it into the ocean. They only need new fuel once every few years. The barges would dock near coastal communities and send electricity to shore through cables laid under the water. Asante told TechCrunch each unit could power about 15,000 homes or meet the full energy needs of a major port.

The company has already acquired a port terminal, a barge, and a test version of the steel container that would hold the reactor core. It plans to use the new funding to move closer to deploying its product. Asante is also working with government regulators to build safety features into the design from the start, rather than trying to add them later. The TechCrunch coverage combines a company-issued announcement with a direct founder interview.

Building small nuclear reactors has drawn a lot of investor interest in recent years, with several startups trying different designs and approaches. What makes Bluecore different is the idea of putting the reactor on a barge in the water. This is not entirely new. Russia built a floating nuclear power plant called the Akademik Lomonosov, which started operating in 2019 and proved that a reactor on a barge can work. Bluecore's bet is that a similar design can be made smaller and sold to a specific customer: ports and the power grids near them.

Ports use a lot of electricity. They run cranes, refrigerated storage, and automated equipment. Many ports also now offer shore power, which lets docked ships plug into the local grid instead of running their own diesel engines. A lot of ports are in areas where the local power grid is already stretched thin, and adding new clean power is hard. A nuclear reactor on a barge that can dock nearby, plug in, and deliver steady power around the clock — without the years of paperwork and construction that a land-based power plant would require — is an appealing idea.

But the rules for a floating nuclear reactor are complicated. In the United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission would need to license the reactor, the Coast Guard would oversee maritime safety, and state agencies would have their own requirements at whatever port the barge operates in. Asante's approach of working with regulators during the design phase is what experienced nuclear developers recommend. The NRC's approval process is built around specific design details. Building something first and then asking for approval has historically led to costly redesigns.

It is worth keeping the scale in perspective. $10 million is a lot of money for an early-stage software company, but it is small for a project involving nuclear reactors, heavy steel equipment, and marine infrastructure. The fact that Bluecore has already acquired physical assets suggests the money is going into real construction, not just research. Even so, getting from a test container to a licensed, fueled, grid-connected floating reactor will take years and hundreds of millions of dollars more. This funding round pays for the next steps, not the finish line.

The investor mix is also worth noting. Slauson & Co. and Harlem Capital are firms known for backing founders from underrepresented backgrounds. Precursor Ventures invests at the earliest stages of a company's life. Chris Larsen's involvement brings a connection to the fintech world, and Hartbeat Ventures adds celebrity capital. The variety of investor types suggests Bluecore sought a wide range of backers rather than focusing on nuclear-focused funds.

Asante's background in freight logistics at Uber Freight is an unusual starting point for someone building nuclear reactors. But it offers a useful way to think about what Bluecore is doing. Freight logistics is about moving large things through a regulated system to wherever they are needed. A nuclear power plant on a barge is, in a way, a logistics problem applied to electricity. Whether that idea can become a real, licensed, and affordable product is the question this funding will help answer.