Why We're Leading Radiant's $300m Series D
Boost VC wants Nuclear Reactors in Space.
Ever since Brayton Williams and I founded Boost VC, the entire premise has been about getting the right resources to the greatest people, building important things. Traditionally we focus on the PreSeed stage — Today we made an exception. Today, we get to announce that we Co-Led a $300m Series D round in Radiant Nuclear. *Checks Notes*… OVER $300m!!!
So how did a Pre-Seed fund end up leading a Series D!? 👇
The quick answer is the Radiant team is incredible, we have been working with them for 6 years, and nuclear energy is the future. The longer answer started 6 years ago:
In 2020, in the middle of lockdowns, Zoom fatigue, and a tech ecosystem sprinting toward software and remote work, I took a first call with Doug Bernauer, Founder and CEO of Radiant. In a “macro" market that was short term rewarding software - Doug and the incredible team at Radiant were building nuclear reactors. The most in-person, and ambitious concept we had heard in a long time.
In 2020, this idea was deeply unpopular.
Capital was flooding into software. “Remote-first” was the popular thesis. Anything that required people, atoms, factories, or capital expenditure was viewed as risky, slow, and out of step with the moment.
The winds of regulation were not in their favor. There were many more priorities before energy in 2020, and the new dawn of startup government contractors had not hit the market yet.
However, we believed something that the rest of the world did not - Nuclear power was going to be very important in the next 100 years, and we believed that Doug Bernauer was the right founder for that to happen.
I said yes immediately. Doug is the type of founder that can take complex topics and communicate them in the simplest of terms. He was high energy and optimistic, it was one of the most no-brainer decisions I have made as an early stage investor.
5 years ago Doug presented this slide below. He is only ~1 month off his original Fueled Reactor test. Even the nuclear companies with years of head start have not done a fueled demonstration with their reactor. Not a single new reactor design in the United States has gone live in OVER 50 years. This is about to change.
Shipping on time is exceptionally rare in hardware. It’s almost unheard of in deep tech, however Radiant continues to achieve milestones on time!
Some of the best VC brands noticed: USV, A16Z, DCVC and many more fantastic investors have supported them over the past 6 years.
Why did Boost VC invest a larger amount of money than we have ever invested in any deal, ever?
BECAUSE WE CAN JUST DO THINGS!!!!
We saw the opportunity to help that no one else seemed to see. At this moment and time, we had a chance to be a part of history and we took it. This is a historic investment for Boost VC, Radiant and Nuclear energy as a whole. The next 100 years will run on Nuclear Energy starting with Radiant.
At the end of the day, I have been a people investor - and I believe in Doug and the management team they have built. Radiant continues to be an easy investment to make when you see the output of progress they have made since Day 1.
Conviction is rare, and sometimes the best investment decisions are ones you have already made. I think this is just the beginning for Radiant.