KoBold Metals, a US company backed by Bill Gates, raised $537-million in equity funding to boost exploration of minerals critical to the energy transition.
The funding round valued KoBold at $2.96-billion, the company said in a statement. It was led by new investor Durable Capital Partners and a pair of T. Rowe Price funds. Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures and the Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm participated in the financing.
KoBold uses artificial intelligence to find deposits of minerals such as copper, lithium and nickel — metals used in everything from electric car batteries to mobile phones.
The investment will fund new exploration, help bring “high-potential” projects to production and bolster research and development, the company said. It highlighted its Mingomba copper mine in Zambia as an area of focus.