糖心视频

Startups hitting the magical $1 billion unicorn valuation is not rare 鈥� however, it鈥檚 not usually a mining company.

Nevertheless, Berkeley, California-based pulled off the feat after a $195 million raise from a number of big-name investors, including , and 听补苍诲 -backed .听

The new cash values the climate-tech startup at $1.15 billion.

The round 鈥� 鈥� was led by . The total funding amount was reported by .

Hot trends

KoBold Metals has tied two hot trends together for investors 鈥� artificial intelligence and alternative energy sources.

The company uses artificial intelligence to mine for valuable metals such as cobalt, copper, nickel and lithium used in the production of batteries for a variety of sectors, including electric vehicles. The startup has built a database about the Earth鈥檚 layers and uses algorithms to make predictions about where mineral deposits are around the world.

The company plans on using the new funding to develop copper reserves in Zambia. Last December, KoBold agreed to invest $150 million to buy a controlling stake in the large, undeveloped copper reserves.

It has 60 continuing exploration projects in North America, Africa and Australia, per the WSJ.

鈥淭he success rates of finding new deposits have been declining,鈥� co-founder and CEO told the WSJ. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to see how in the current setup we鈥檒l get sufficient discoveries in time without breakthroughs in technology.鈥澛�

Big money

KoBold Metals isn鈥檛 new to big rounds. In February 2022, the startup closed a $192.5 million Series B, which included investment from , , BHP Group and the .

Founded in 2018, the company has now raised more than $400 million.