Ray Rothrock, the venture capitalist with the most experience backing advanced nuclear ventures, has agreed to serve as an advisor to Nucleation Capital. Ray led Venrock's investment in Tri Alpha Energy in 2005 and sits on the TAE board. He personally invested in Transatomic Energy, and served as the chair of the board until the company closed in 2018. Ray has been involved in shifting the conversation about nuclear energy in the US, testifying on behalf of H.R. 4084, the Nuclear Energy Innovation Capabilities Act, which was ultimately signed into law in 2018, funding the Robert Stone documentary, Pandora's Promise and many other facets of activity.
In 2016, Ray reflected on the role of venture capital in funding advanced nuclear ventures and wrote: "Aren’t we VCs supposed to be ruthlessly focused on finding ideas that we think can be brought to market with reasonable investments and in reasonable periods of time? Of course. But sometimes an opportunity presents itself that, if it works, can change the future forever and for everyone. . . "
Read more of Ray's thinking about the role of venture capital in What’s the Big Idea?, an article he published in the Winter 2016 edition of Issues in Science and Technology.
