KoBold Metals, the US-based mining startup backed by billionaires Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, has raised $537m in a Series C funding round.
Led by Durable Capital Partners and T. Rowe Price funds, this investment values KoBold at $2.96bn.
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The funding will accelerate the exploration of minerals such as copper, lithium, and nickel, which are vital for technologies such as electric vehicles and mobile phones.
The company has so far amassed $1bn in total funding.
KoBold plans to use the proceeds for new explorations, advancing ‘high-potential’ projects to production, and reinforcing research and development (R&D) efforts, reported Bloomberg.
KoBold’s Mingomba copper mine in Zambia is particularly earmarked for development, with the company announcing a huge copper deposit at the site in February 2024.
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By GlobalDataEstimated to cost $2bn, the Mingomba project is expected to yield a minimum of 300,000 tonnes of copper annually from the 2030s.
KoBold CEO Kurt House said that about 40% of the new capital is planned to be spent on developing existing projects into mines with the project in Zambia receiving the majority of this investment.
Furthermore, KoBold plans to recruit data scientists from tech backgrounds and geoscientists for field surveys and data collection.
House said that the company is also planning a potential initial public offering within the next three to five years.
Breakthrough Energy Ventures managing partner Carmichael Roberts was cited by the Financial Times as saying that KoBold’s AI-driven approach to the exploration of minerals would create “a more secure, affordable, and clean energy future for all”.
KoBold collaborates with mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto on critical metal exploration initiatives in Australia and Canada.
KoBold Metals integrates expertise in geosciences with AI, machine learning, and data science to enhance and speed up the exploration process to identify the critical minerals required for energy transition globally.
