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Nucleation Capital
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Subscription Amount
$5,000+ Quarterly
Subscription Period
1-12 Quarters
Management Fee
2% per year over 10 years
Carry
20%
Admin Fee (annualized)
(Not applicable for LPs in this Fund)
The Admin Fees charged by AngelList for use of the platform by the rolling fund is being paid by Nucleation's Fund Leads out of their management fees and is therefore not charged to fund investors or the fund.
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Note from Valerie Gardner and Rod Adams
Welcome to Nucleation Capital Fund I: A pathway to capitalize on nuclear’s growth
Nucleation Capital’s low-cost rolling venture fund is the most affordable and flexible way to invest directly into the enormous growth now projected for advanced nuclear. These fourth generation reactors (“Gen IV”) comprise a diverse class of small modular energy systems that Google, Amazon, Dow Chemical, Nucor and other very savvy energy consumers have started to place orders for, to solve their growing needs for reliable, clean, and low-carbon energy.
Nucleation Capital, the first venture fund to focus on advanced nuclear, is now in its 4th year and widely considered the leader. We bring deep technical nuclear knowledge, industry networks and investment expertise to building portfolios of the best ventures operating in this space. We have followed this sector for a long time and are prepared to help investors capitalize on the world’s urgent need to phase out fossil fuels with a deep understanding of Gen IV technologies, players and protocols for deploying advanced nuclear energy systems. The best of which is developing in private rather than public companies. Whether you want to invest $2,500 or $250,000 per quarter, you’ve come to the right place. Our job is to help you exploit one of the most significant disruptions and investment opportunities of our lifetime: the transition away from fossil fuels and towards 100% carbon-free energy and a carbon-managed economy.
Nucleation works to structure LP portfolios in a risk-reduced way across our thesis which spans nuclear, carbon and grid innovations. We invest primarily in fission, fusion, LENR, radioisotope thermal batteries, innovative neutronics and other atomictech innovations that utilize the power of the atom to make transitioning away from fossil fuels both compelling and scalable. We also invest in carbon utilization, whether for synthetic hydrocarbon fuels, carbon additives or for carbon-based materials like graphite, graphene, diamonds, etc., we see growing demand for technologies that help to recycle and reuse carbon to make restoring our climate profitable. Lastly, we will invest in innovations that improve and fortify the power grid, since humanity is totally reliant on energy availability and our grid at present is far from resilient.
The world is already experiencing staggering consequences of having surpassed 1.5°C (Centigrade, or 2.7° Fahrenheit) in global warming and things are still getting worse. Nucleation’s Fund I provides access to a dynamic new asset class and a hedge against the extreme risks posed by climate change to your wealth and health by our continued use of fossil fuels, which nearly every nation agrees must be phased out.
Nucleation’s pronuclear “energy transition” focus and deep expertise has yielded us superior deal flow and deal access. Plus, we don’t invest in either fossil fuels or renewables, so we are able to help LPs gain exposure to nuclear and carbon tech without competing with most other portfolio holdings. Our fund’s online structure makes it extremely convenient and cost-competitive. And unlike other venture funds, we don’t charge ordinary fund expenses, including the Angellist admin fees, to investors. Rather we cover these from our management fee. Best of all, we offer fee discounts for longer and larger subscriptions to encourage investors to build more robust portfolios. Given the lack of suitable public market alternatives and the long and difficult learning curve, Nucleation Capital is exactly what most investors need to gain appropriate and targeted exposure at the level that works for them.
Meet the Team
Nucleation Capital brings focused expertise with a team that blends traditional and advanced nuclear expertise with climate, clean energy and investment expertise.
- Valerie Gardner | Managing Partner: JD/MBA, former tech entrepreneur, investor and CFO/General Counsel at two tech ventures (one acquired for $.5 billion by Microsoft). Founder of two investment firms in Menlo Park, including Tiemann Investment Advisors, a $300 million AUM registered investment advisor, which developed the first nuclear-focused zero-carbon public portfolio strategy for high net worth clients; and Nucleation Capital, the first advanced nuclear-focused venture fund.
- Rod Adams | Managing Partner: An industry veteran and former Naval Commander with 11 naval deployments, including operating submarine nuclear reactors. Founder of Adams Atomic Engines, one of the earliest advanced nuclear reactor ventures. Long term industry visionary, speaker and founder of Atomic Insights blog, launched in 1995 with over 3,600 authored articles, and host of the Atomic Show podcast, with over 300 interviews. Made Hollywood film debut in Oliver Stone’s 2023 Nuclear Now documentary, available through streaming channels.
- Jonathan Tiemann | CFO, a Yale Ph.D. in Finance, co-founder, president and CIO of Tiemann Investment Advisors, with more than three decades of institutional-caliber investment management, risk analyses, fintech design and venture valuation experience. Former FINRA committee advisor and Fort Ross Conservancy board member.
- Rick DeGolia | Managing Member and a clean energy public policy expert. Board director of Peninsula Clean Energy, a community choice aggregation (CCA) utility, purchasing clean energy for Silicon Valley, former attorney with Wilson Sonsini, as well as tech CEO, community leader, council member and venture investor.
Advisors | We have the support of a diverse set of expert advisors from industry, government, clean energy and investment communities, including:
- Ray Rothrock, formerly with Venrock Capital for 35 years and a renowned nuclear energy venture capital investor, and author of the very inspiring 2016 article, “What’s the Big Idea?” published in Issues magazine.
- Ross Koningstein, Google’s first VP Engineering, lead on the “RE<C” clean energy study, founder of Google’s Nuclear Energy R&D (NERD) group and author of “The Inside Story of Google’s Quiet Nuclear Quest,” published at IEEE.
- Gene Grecheck, a nuclear engineer and seasoned industry executive with more than 40 years of experience in commercial nuclear power generation, primarily with Dominion Resources, leading its new plant development activities, including being licensed as a Senior Reactor Operator, overseeing NRC applications, and serving in various advisory capacities for the American Nuclear Society, the Nuclear Energy Institute, and the DOE.
- Meredith Angwin, a renowned expert on energy, electric grids and the myriad pricing and purchasing mechanisms, organizations and algorithms that serve to distribute energy, and esteemed author of the book, “Shorting the Grid.”
- Rani Franovich, a former NRC regulator for 30 years, who also served for six years as a resident inspector of a nuclear plant, who obtained extensive knowledge of plant operations, and who now serves as a nuclear consultant,
Our Portfolio
We are pleased to showcase our portfolio to date. These companies are creating an exciting range of innovative designs for clean energy from fission and fusion systems to provide electricity or heat for grids, industry and marine propulsion, neutrons for industrial applications, nuclear AI systems, deep geologic waste storage, sustainable fuel production, nuclear batteries, fuel reprocessing, marine carbon capture and de-acidification and more. Nucleation will co-invest with other venture firms like DCVC, Union Square Ventures, Prime Movers Lab, and Founders Fund and we’ve invested as the only VC in a deal. Please see our Portfolio page for more information about how we have defined our unique thesis through investments over the last four years. See Our Approach to learn how we work to structure portfolios for new LPs.
Investment Process & Terms
You are on Nucleation’s subscription page at Angellist, where you can access all of our fund information, including closing documents (see the “View Closing Documents” link to the right), our Investor Presentation, the Nucleation website and official fund terms (see “Investment Details” at the bottom of this page). Once you’ve reviewed this information, you can apply to subscribe at the level that works for you and Angellist will work with you to complete your accreditation. Once accredited, Angellist will send us notice of your application. We will review and approve that and apply our fee discounts as appropriate. Please be sure to let us know how you found us in the comments area of the application. (You can also click the “Message Fund Leads” link on the right, to ask us any questions you may have.) Recommended minimum subscription: $5,000/quarter (or click here for our $2,500 level);
- Management Fee: 2% annual fee (25% discount applied for 8-quarter subscriptions or more)
- Carried Interest Fee: 20% of net profits from investments made during the term, after all invested principal has been repaid. (25% discount applied for subscriptions of $50,000 or more per quarter)
- For subscriptions of $50,000/quarter and 8 quarters or more, use this link to get our maximum discounts.
- Investment Target: ~1 investment per quarter. Please size your subscription to the amount you would like invested per deal, on average.
- We cover all ordinary fund expenses, including the AngelList Admin fees (note: this does not include Blue Sky fees charged by LP states)
- We allow cancellations of unfunded quarters for any reason (so select the longest term that you might wish to invest for, to get our management fee discount).
- Investors receive a pro rata share of the investments made in their subscribed quarters but not from quarters prior to or after their subscription ends.
Why Invest in Nucleation Capital Now?
While the Trump Administration scoffs at climate change and appears to be pulling the plug on federal support for wind and solar, they are pro-actively continuing Trump’s earlier support for accelerating the commercialization of advanced nuclear, which saw both the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act (NEICA) and the Nuclear Energy Innovation and Modernization Act (NEIMA) bills signed into law. Chris Wright, Trump’s pick to head up the DOE, and a prior guest on The Atomic Show, is a self-proclaimed “huge supporter of nuclear fission energy.” In March 2025, Wright declared that “America’s nuclear energy renaissance starts now,” and announced the DOE’s re-issuance of a $900 million solicitation to support the deployment of small modular reactors. Trump’s apparent reservations about large, traditional nuclear does not seem to extend to advanced nuclear. The industry consensus is that U.S. nuclear innovators will get continued support to move rapidly towards commercialization, something previously supported by the Biden Administration, which passed the Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy (ADVANCE) Act in the summer of 2024. For those looking to invest in clean energy technologies that can and will compete with fossil fuels, next-generation nuclear provides the best option there is.
Meet with Us
We are delighted to host Nucleation Fund I on the Angellist platform and be able to offer nearly any accredited investor a convenient, affordable and flexible way to gain risk-reduced exposure to the enormous growth anticipated for advanced nuclear through an expertly curated portfolio in the venture capital asset class. Thank you for recognizing the importance of what may well be the key technological solutions for solving our world’s growing energy, carbon and climate issues!
Valerie Gardner, Rod Adams
Investment Details
Subscription Start Date
April 1, 2025
Minimum Quarterly Subscription
$5,000
Management Fee
Investors pay management fees of 2% per year for the first 10 years.
Management fees are taken as a percentage of the total committed capital. The total management fee is paid out quarterly over the first
four years of the fund's life.
Carry
Twenty percent (20%)
Admin Fee (annualized)
(Not applicable for LPs in this Fund)
Fees for each quarterly fund in the Rolling Fund Program will vary based on each quarterly fund’s capital contributions since the fee includes a flat fee component. Last quarter, this fund closed $684.3k in capital.
Fund Lead Commitment
Valerie Gardner and Rod Adams' personal subscription per quarter will be at least $30,000 with a quarterly cap of 30% of each quarterly fund's total committed capital in total.
Investor FAQ
How is this program different from venture fund investing?
How do subscriptions work?
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How does carried interest work?
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Will a Limited Partner (LP) participate in all investments made by the funds offered through this Program?
Will an LP's percentage ownership of quarterly funds always be the same?
Are LPs guaranteed access to Nucleation Capital's future funds?
How are subscriptions funded?
How does changing or canceling a subscription work?
Who manages these funds?
Do funds in this Program have minimum or maximum investment sizes?
What happens if funds in this Program do not invest their total capital each quarter?
When will LPs learn about companies the funds invested in?
Can LPs opt out of specific deals?
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Can LPs redeem their interests in the fund?
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Unanswered questions? Contact AngelList
The performance of past deals or a lead investors' track record is not a guarantee of future returns. Venture capital fund investments are inherently risky and illiquid. Such investments involve a high degree of risk and are suitable only for sophisticated and accredited investors.
AngelList and its affiliates do not provide investment advice to investors. The information on this page should not be relied upon as research, investment advice or a recommendation of any kind. Information on this page is qualified in its entirety by the fund's Limited Partnership Agreement, Private Placement Memorandum and Subscription Agreement, which should be reviewed carefully prior to making an investment decision. Please see these documents for full details regarding risks, minimum investment, fees and expenses. The Fund Lead and the fund's investment advisor have the right to waive or charge additional carry to certain investors. The fund's legal name may be different from the name used above.
This fund may accept new investors after the fund undergoes a valuation update. Certain potential investors in the fund may then have access to materially different information concerning fund value at the time of their investment.
Current or future portfolio companies in this fund may use AngelList's recruiting platform and may pay an affiliate of the fund's investment adviser for premium recruiting tools and services. This may create a potential conflict of interest for the investment adviser, which you will consent to by subscribing to the fund.
Please read the disclosures in full here.
Apply To Subscribe
Subscription Amount
$5,000+ Quarterly
Subscription Period
1-12 Quarters
Management Fee
2% per year over 10 years
Carry
20%
Admin Fee (annualized)
(Not applicable for LPs in this Fund)
The Admin Fees charged by AngelList for use of the platform by the rolling fund is being paid by Nucleation's Fund Leads out of their management fees and is therefore not charged to fund investors or the fund.
Invest Account
Select invest account