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Earlier this year, Kobold Metals found what might be one of the largest high-grade copper deposits of all time, with the potential to produce hundreds of thousands of metric tons per year, the company’s CEO said.
Now, just eight months later, Kobold is close to raising over half a billion dollars. The funding should help the company develop the massive copper resource while moving forward on its other exploration projects, which number in the dozens.
The mineral discovery startup has already raised $491 million of a targeted $527 million round, according to an SEC filing. Its previous round of $195 million valued the company at $1 billion dollars post-money, according to PitchBook. The startup is reportedly aiming for a $2 billion valuation for the current round.
The company did not immediately reply to questions.
Kobold uses artificial intelligence to sift through enormous amounts of data in a quest to find mineral deposits that can help drive the energy transition. In addition to copper, the company searches for lithium, nickel, and cobalt.
Initially, the company was focused solely on discovery. Prospecting for minerals has historically been an endeavor fraught with risk. The rule of thumb is that for every 1,000 attempts to find a deposit, only about three tend to be successful. Kobold was betting that AI would be able to parse data and find trends that would lead to greater success rates.
With the enormous copper deposit in Zambia, Kobold appears to have delivered on its early promise. The company has about 60 other exploration projects underway, and in a strategic shift, Kobold has said it intends to develop the Zambia resource itself, an undertaking that reportedly will cost around $2.3 billion.
Kobold’s previous investors include Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Andreessen Horowitz, and Breakthrough Energy Ventures.
Tim De Chant is a senior climate reporter at TechCrunch. He has written for a wide range of publications, including Wired magazine, the Chicago Tribune, Ars Technica, The Wire China, and NOVA Next, where he was founding editor. De Chant is also a lecturer in MIT’s Graduate Program in Science Writing, and he was awarded a Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT in 2018, during which time he studied climate technologies and explored new business models for journalism. He received his PhD in environmental science, policy, and management from the University of California, Berkeley, and his BA degree in environmental studies, English, and biology from St. Olaf College.
