Apollo Atomics, which is developing ultra-compact nuclear reactors, sits in Robinhood Ventures Fund II’s hardware and energy cohort. The company’s bet is that AI data centers need power that fits their campuses, and that small reactor designs can be manufactured and sited faster than conventional plants, which take years of construction and permitting. Where traditional nuclear leans on massive site-built plants, Apollo Atomics is aiming at units that behave more like factory products.
The startup joins the fund through its $250K SAFE program, the same instrument the fund uses across roughly 80 holdings. Compact reactors are a crowded corner of the energy market, with startups chasing everything from microreactors to fusion, and Apollo Atomics’ angle is size: units small enough to be built in a factory and installed near a data center load. Data center power demand is straining grids across the US, which is pushing hyperscalers to sign deals with reactor developers and pulling investors into the space. Regulators have also signaled openness to smaller designs, which shortens the path from prototype to grid.
For Robinhood Ventures Fund II, the position is a bet on the power bottleneck that sits under the AI buildout. The fund’s shares begin trading on the NYSE on August 13 at $25 apiece, and its prospectus lists Apollo Atomics among the physical bets that balance a software-heavy portfolio. If compact reactors deliver, the company could be one of the fund’s most consequential holdings; if they slip, the check is small enough to absorb.
