newcleo Collects the First 87 Million Euros of the One Billion Mega-Round

newcleo, the Italian-British scaleup that develops innovative fourth generation nuclear reactors using nuclear waste as fuel, founded and led by scientist Stefano Buono, has closed a first tranche of 87 million euros of the one billion mega-round opened in the spring 2023 and plans to close another tranche by the summer.

The one billion euro round of newcleo is destined to be only the first of a series of large financing rounds

S ifted wrote it , citing statements made to the British newspaper by a company spokesperson.The closure of the first tranche therefore arrived earlier than expected, given that it was expected within the first half of this year. Meanwhile, the spokesperson told Sifted, the company still expects other closures , beyond the one hypothesized before the summer: “We are holding a series of promising conversations with important potential investors and are optimistic about the progress.”

Newcleo, who did not provide details regarding the investors involved in this financing transaction, told Sifted that the company is looking to raise funds from family offices, HNWIs and institutional investors, as well as tapping into public funds in the form of tax credits.

Having said this, certainly part of the 87 million euros represent the investments of two industrial companies with which Newcleo has signed two important partnerships in recent months, namely the London-based Viaro Energy and the Italian-Romanian group Tosto Group . We recall, in fact, that Newcleo established a joint venture with Viaro Energy last March for the use of Newcleo’s 200 MWe lead-cooled fast reactors at Viaro Energy sites for the decarbonization of its existing and future assets. The operation was indeed sealed with the subscription by Viaro Energy of a portion of Newcleo’s capital increase currently underway.

The agreement with Viaro Energy and its involvement in the capital follows a similar one signed in October 2023 with Tosto Group, a leader in the production of large and pressure components in the chemical, oil & gas and energy sectors, including the nuclear sector. In that case the partnership was strengthened by a work for equity mechanism that will allow Tosto Group to invest in newcleo, making it an integral part of the results achieved by newcleo.

Before raising these 87 million, the market had already secured over 400 million euros for the scaleup, with the last round dating back to June 2022, when 300 million were raised, coming for the two third parties from the investors of the previous round of $118 million closed in September 2021.

The Italian business angel network Club degli Investitori participated in the 2021 round (with 2.3 million euros ); LIFTT , a startup investment vehicle born from the public-private alliance between the Polytechnic of Turin and Compagnia di San Paolo , through the Links Foundation (LIFTT is chaired by Buono himself); and Exor Seeds , the venture capital arm of Exor , the Agnell family ‘s listed holding company.

The Drago family (De Agostini) , the banker Claudio Costamagna , the former CEO of UBI, Victor Massiah, and Azimut also appear in Newcleo’s capital . They were then joined by several international venture capital funds and other protagonists of Italian finance such as the Rovati family, Davide and Vittorio Malacalza , Paolo Merloni ‘s Novacapital and the Swedish Lundin dynasty.

Among the financiers there are also MITO Technology, with the Progress Tech Transfer fund , which invested 3 million ; and Gaudenzio Roveda (shareholder with significant shares of some listed companies such as Abitare In and Spac Industrial Stars of Italy 4, which then led the business combination with Sicily by Car). More recently, Fin Posillipo, the holding company of the Petrone family from Naples, Pierrel ‘s reference partner, also joined the team.

However, the one billion euro round is destined to be only the first of a series of large financing rounds, given that between now and the next 7-8 years the company will need a total “in the range of 3-4 billion euros,” to develop two reactors in France and the United Kingdom, a non-nuclear prototype under study in Italy and a nuclear fuel factory composed of mixed oxides of plutonium and uranium (Mixed Plutonium-Uranium Oxides or MOX).

Elisabeth Rizzotti, chief operating officer and co-founder of newcleo, told BeBeez Magazine n. 4 of 15 April 2023. On that occasion, Rizzotti had specified that to achieve the objectives the company did not foresee access to the debt markets and intended to focus on new rounds as well as “on the generation of revenues deriving from the business model , and therefore from the sale of the exclusive use license to other countries,” without neglecting the possibility that there were “new funding also from governments.” A year ago the company submitted financing requests in France and the first steps towards regulatory approvals had been taken in the United Kingdom.

A year later, on 15 April 2024, Rizzotti herself declared on the sidelines of a conference held in Pavia, that the one billion euro collection “is progressing well and in line.” It is a capital increase that was opened without immediate closure, because in any case we have enough funds until 2026.” The operation, she said, “is involving many institutions” with the interest “of industry and the world of energy.” Speaking about the future of the startup, Rizzotti revealed that “a transfer of our headquarters from England to France will be announced shortly.”

And just beyond the Alps, Newcleo plans to invest 3 billion by 2030 to build, as mentioned, a fuel treatment plant and a demonstration reactor, projects for which last June (2023) Newcleo obtained a grant as part of “France 2030,” the public investment plan that should guarantee the country a front row seat in the green and digital transition. With this in mind, at the beginning of April, Newcleo signed a collaboration agreement with the CEA, a French public research body at the forefront of technological innovation, in particular in the field of fourth generation nuclear energy.

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(Featured image by ELG21 via Pixabay)

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