newcleo
🇫🇷 Paris, FR · Founded 2021 · Active
newcleo is a nuclear company founded in September 2021 that develops small lead-cooled fast reactors, which use molten lead as coolant and are intended to run on mixed uranium-plutonium oxide (MOX) fuel. It moved its headquarters from London to Paris in September 2024. Its designs came from its acquisition of Hydromine Nuclear Energy, which had designed the LFR-AS-200 and LFR-TL-30 reactors. In February 2025 it began acquiring land near Chinon in France for a first 30 MWe reactor, the LFR-AS-30, which it aims to build by 2031, and in January 2025 it agreed a joint venture with the Slovak company JAVYS for up to four LFR-AS-200 reactors at Jaslovské Bohunice. None of its reactors has been built. It also plans its own MOX fuel plant in France.
- Sector
- Fission, Fuel cycle
- Technology
- Lead fast reactor
- Fuel
- Mixed oxide fuel
- Role
- Reactor developer
Its recorded equity, about $719m, is the 7th largest of the 25 organisations with a priced round here. Not every round is on record, so this is not its total raised.
Terms
- Lead fast reactor
- Molten lead or lead-bismuth coolant, fast and unmoderated. Does not burn in air or react violently with water, unlike sodium, at the cost of weight and corrosion engineering. Fuel is typically nitride or mixed-oxide.
- Mixed oxide fuel
- Mixed oxide fuel: plutonium oxide blended with uranium oxide, usually depleted uranium, with commercial MOX typically 7 to 11% plutonium. The plutonium comes from reprocessed spent fuel, so MOX needs no fresh enrichment but depends on a reprocessing plant. Plutonium gives a smaller delayed neutron fraction than uranium-235, one reason thermal reactors usually load MOX into only part of their core.
Funding
- 2026-09-21SPAC mergerListing on Nasdaq (NWCL, trading from 22 September 2026) by business combination with NewHold Investment Corp. III, closed 21 September 2026. Recorded at the $31 million the company says came from NewHold's trust account at closing, after redemptions. NewHold held 20,125,000 public shares redeemable at about $10.58 each at 30 June 2026, so most of the trust was redeemed. The $216 million PIPE is a separate record. Up to $75 million more under a forward purchase agreement is contingent and not recorded.$31m
- 2026-09-21Equity round$216 million PIPE completed with the NewHold business combination on 21 September 2026. Segmented from the SPAC trust proceeds.$216m
- 2025-06Convertible note or SAFEEUR 32.1 million raised by newcleo SA in June 2025 through redeemable bonds, converted into newcleo SA shares on 30 June 2025 and later exchanged for newcleo Ltd shares (December 2025). The later share exchange is not new money.≈$35m
- 2024-10Equity roundEquity raise closed October 2024: 18,228,452 shares for EUR 49.6 million before expenses.≈$54m
- 2023-03Equity roundFirst tranche of an equity raise launched March 2023 and closed April 2024: 31,119,972 shares for EUR 87.1 million.≈$94m
- 2022-06Equity roundPrivate fund raise completed June 2022: 200,000,000 shares for EUR 300.0 million.≈$324m
Designs
| Design | Developer | Approach | Electrical output per unit | Size class | Licensing stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LFR-AS-200 | newcleo | Lead fast reactor | 200 MWe planned | Small modular reactor | No milestone recorded |