When you ask an advanced nuclear company about its biggest struggle in getting a reactor to market, the answer is almost always the regulatory process. (Believe us—we’ve asked.)
Everstar was created to make the regulatory and compliance process a little easier for companies. This week, the startup announced that it has raised a $4M pre-seed round to support development of its AI for nuclear regulatory processes.
“The reactors are done, the physics is done,” Kevin Kong, Everstar’s CEO, told Ignition. “The problem in America is…we need regulatory malaise to be lifted. We need more approvals. We need more sites. We need faster time to market.”
Third Prime VC led the round, which included participation from Pelican Energy Partners, EXCEL Services, Virta Ventures, Generational Partners, Page One Ventures, and a handful of angel investors.
Everstar’s solution: The company is building Gordian, an AI-powered compliance engine that helps companies navigate complex paperwork efficiently and effectively. Rather than building one central model, Everstar is developing a compound AI structure that can handle a variety of use cases.
“Customers don’t want one model. They want solutions,” Kong said. “Sometimes you need a very low-res, high-level cut. Sometimes you need to ask something that cannot hallucinate and do this across hundreds of pages…So we just applied different methodologies and different models for different use cases, and we found they all perform differently.”
To learn the market and get in with the utilities and advanced reactor companies it’s targeting as customers, the company has partnered with EXCEL Services, a consulting firm that works across the nuclear sector. Everstar also has relationships with the NRC, DOE, and DoD.
Up next: Now that Everstar has raised seed funding, its primary focus is “assembling the Avengers,” per Kong. The company needs to employ deep expertise to develop its product and meet customer needs.
“Eventually I want to take the cost down to zero for this compliance AI, and build other solutions on the back end where we can make the economics work, but this needs to lift all the boats in this tide,” Kong said.
Lead Reporter of Ignition
