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Kofi Asante is on a mission to “democratize access to clean energy.”
Asante founded his first startup while attending Tufts University from 2013 to 2017. After college, Asante joined Uber, where he worked on the launch team for its freight strategy. Asante told AFROTECH that the lessons he learned there informed the launch of Powerloop within Uber, which he credits with giving him an understanding of “rapidly scaling companies.”
He went on to become an intrapreneur twice more. He served on the autonomous hybrid electric aircraft launch team of aerospace company Elroy Air, a company with an estimated $1 billion valuation, Reuters reports. He then served at Arc on the commercial electric ship launch team, with both ventures overlapping with him working as a venture partner at Rackhouse Venture Capital.
“I have had the opportunity to be a venture partner while I have been an operator, which gave me a well-rounded perspective about the process. I would have some days where I am pitching a venture firm in the morning and being pitched to by a company the same day,” he explained.
Bluecore Energy
In 2026, Asante launched Bluecore Energy, a venture-backed nuclear company headquartered at the Port of Long Beach in California. Asante said the company’s inception was inspired by time he spent working with the port’s leadership on zero-emission infrastructure and ships, leading him to develop a mission centered on expanding access to clean, reliable energy.
“They are one of the largest ports in the U.S., very innovative, and want to be the greenest port in the world … My wife is a pediatrician, and we talk daily about the impact of clean air on the children and communities around, so when I found a way to solve for it, the decision was easy,” Asante explained.
Asante quit his job in January to bet on Bluecore Energy, which is developing small, modular, water-cooled nuclear power reactors to operate “aboard floating energy barges and deliver reliable, zero-emission power directly to ports, critical infrastructure, and cargo ship propulsion,” according to a press release shared with AFROTECH.
“Traditionally, getting more electricity at scale can take many years: rather than waiting years for new power infrastructure to reach the point of demand, our floating nuclear power plant is designed to bring the power source directly to it in the matter of days,” Asante said. “Our initial system is being developed to power the equivalent of approximately 15,000 homes or scale to meet the power needs of a major port. Designed to be fueled once for years of operation, the reactor can be paired together for scale to provide a new power source for ports, utilities, data centers, offshore infrastructure, and communities facing energy constraints. When a community needs clean energy, we don’t want them to wait for years. We want to deliver it as fast as an Amazon order.”
According to Asante, Bluecore Energy’s team includes SpaceX engineers, former Toyota manufacturers, Black nuclear engineers, Black Ivy League PhDs from Blue Origin, and the first woman to serve as a nuclear submarine officer.
“Inclusivity, safety, humility, and pragmatism are our Bluecore Values that we all align on even though everyone might have different backgrounds, and it has resulted in an insane amount of progress in only a couple of months of starting the company. Like Black Panther, I want to build a Wakanda, only instead of vibranium, it is uranium, and open up the door for more of the community to build generation-defining companies,” he said.
Funding
Bluecore Energy has raised $10 million in an oversubscribed pre-seed round of financing led by Slauson & Co., Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen, Kevin Hart-founded Hartbeat Ventures, Harlem Capital, Precursor Ventures, LMNT, Visible Hands VC, Karman Ventures, Capital Factory, Share VC, X&, Markham Ventures, and angel investors who are former leaders at Tesla, Uber, Amazon, and Google, per the release shared with AFROTECH.
The organization intentionally included a significant number of Black-owned and Black-led venture capital firms.
“I believe that the best companies are built by people who can see the world differently … As the company grows, we can return publicity, capital, and hope to communities that traditionally are not represented in deep tech,” Asante mentioned in the release. “They have been supportive either as investors in my previous companies or sounding boards when I was building. They have been able to see me build in ground transportation, aerospace, maritime, and now nuclear.”
Austin Clements, Slauson & Co. co-founder and partner, commented:
“We have spent the better part of our careers looking for diverse founders who leverage their lived experience to build generational companies. Kofi Asante is both. The first Black founder of a nuclear energy company in the United States, building a power plant that floats, at one of the biggest ports in the world, right in our backyard. This is exactly why Slauson exists.”
Bluecore Energy has already secured a test pressure vessel and delivered its first barge and electric test reactor to its headquarters at the Port of Long Beach, per the release.
The post Kofi Asante, Who Is Making History As The First Black Founder Of A Nuclear Company, Raises $10M In Oversubscribed Funding Round appeared first on AfroTech.
The post Kofi Asante, Who Is Making History As The First Black Founder Of A Nuclear Company, Raises $10M In Oversubscribed Funding Round appeared first on AfroTech.
