Atomarine raises $19M for floating nuclear data centers

Atomarine raised $19 million in a seed round led by Y Combinator to build floating data centers powered by small modular nuclear reactors mounted on ships.

Pantera Capital, Soma Capital, Seven Seven Six, Liquid 2 Ventures, Audacious Ventures and E14 Fund joined Y Combinator in the round, according to Data Center Dynamics. The Cambridge, Massachusetts, company was founded by MIT students Dimitris Koutentakis and Emile Germonpré. Atomarine believes its nuclear ships will eventually provide 150MW, enough to power two platforms.

No SMR vendor has released a commercial model or won regulatory approval in the US or any other market, according to Data Center Dynamics, so Atomarine's first ships will run natural gas generators instead. Koutentakis told DCD earlier this year that, given the engineering changes and regulatory timelines involved, the company is targeting a first deployment in 2031 or 2032.

For an allocator, the first revenue-generating capacity sits outside any pipeline now being underwritten. The $19 million is going to engineering hires and a vessel design, not megawatts.

Writing on LinkedIn after the funding announcement, co-founder Dimitris Koutentakis argued that moving offshore avoids the resource fights that shape onshore builds. "By moving offshore, we do not compete with communities for water, power or land, and we do not drive up their electricity bills or rent," he wrote. He added that Atomarine has built a functional proof of concept.