Last Energy, which is developing micro nuclear power plants, said it has closed a $40 million Series B, with investments from Austin, Texas-based Gigafund, the Autodesk Foundation and a “series of family offices.” The Washington, D.C. startup has raised $64 million since its founding in 2019.
Calling 2024 a “monumental year” for Last Energy, founder Bret Kugelmass, a Stanford engineer, said: “In the last eight months we released a new prototype, demonstrated our fabrication and transport capabilities, nearly doubled our headcount, and accelerated commercial growth. Closing our Series B was the next step to unlocking key milestones as we continue down the path toward commercial operations.”
10K Goal
Together with the Series B announcement, Last Energy said it has reached commercial agreements for 80 units. Each unit produces 20 MWe of electricity — or 80 MWt of heat — with the ability to scale output to meet specific needs. Of them, 39 are to be built to serve data centers, which seek ever-growing amounts of clean energy on account of increased use of AI and cloud computing. Last Energy aims to build 10,000 units in the next 15 years.
“Data centers and heavy industry are trying to grapple with a very complex set of energy challenges, and Last Energy has seen them realize that micro-nuclear is the only capable solution,” said Kugelmass, who previously worked at Panasonic. “More than ever, data centers need technologies that can simultaneously provide energy abundance, ensure energy security, and enable decarbonization.”
Portable Plant
Last Energy has focused technological innovation on high throughput manufacturability, rather than the industry’s historical focus on novel reactor core physics. The company claims its microreactors offer significantly higher energy capacity than renewables, often at lower cost, with minimal land and storage requirements. Its PWR-20 plant, often compared with Lego pieces, can be factory fabricated, transported, and assembled on-site within 24 months.
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“We are excited to support Last Energy as they trailblaze a new era in clean and reliable energy,” said Ryan Macpherson, director of Climate Innovation & Investment at the San Francisco-based Autodesk Foundation. “By drastically simplifying the design-construction-operations process, leveraging technology and talent from Autodesk, Last Energy’s approach to micro-modular nuclear power has the potential to fundamentally change how we think about energy production — offering a rapid, scalable, and economically viable solution to decarbonize heavy industry.”
NATO Tie-up
In April 2024, Last Energy showcased a prototype of its nuclear reactor module at Data Center World. The company plans to reveal two new prototypes in 2025.
Earlier this year, Last Energy signed a partnership with the NATO Energy Security Center of Excellence to jointly research military applications for micro-nuclear power technologies and explore opportunities for future deployment on NATO military installations.
