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- KoBold Metals
KoBold Metals Valuation, Funding & Investors
KoBold Metals is valued at $3B as of October 2024.
Last KoBold Metals valuation
$3B
Series C · Oct 2024
Last KoBold Metals funding round
$163M
Undisclosed stage · Nov 2025
Cumulative funding KoBold Metals raised
$1.1B
across 5 funding rounds
Key investors in KoBold Metals
Andreessen Horowitz
Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Equinor Ventures
Earthshot Ventures
T. Rowe Price
Bond
About KoBold Metals
KoBold Metals is a Berkeley, California-headquartered exploration company using AI, machine learning, and geophysical data to discover battery metal deposits globally. The firm targets cobalt, copper, and lithium for electric vehicles, operating projects in Zambia, North America, and Australia. KoBold partners with investors like Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.
Founded
2018
HQ
Website
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Subscription
Valuation
$3B (Oct 2024)
KoBold Metals Valuation
KoBold Metals is currently valued at $3B, based on its Series C in October 2024.
The $537M round was led by Durable Capital Partners and T. Rowe Price, with participation from WCM Investment Management, StepStone Group, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Andreessen Horowitz, Earthshot Ventures and 5 other investors.
KoBold Metals' valuation has grown 2.6x from $1.1B at its Series B in February 2022 to $3B in October 2024, across 3 priced rounds.
KoBold Metals valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Oct 2024 | Series C | $3B |
| Jun 2023 | Series B | $1.1B |
| Feb 2022 | Series B | $1.1B |
KoBold Metals Funding History
KoBold Metals has raised a total of $1.1B across 5 funding rounds.
KoBold Metals' first fundraising round was a $20M Series A in March 2019. The most recent completed round was a $163M undisclosed-stage round in November 2025.
KoBold Metals funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2025 | Undisclosed stage | - | $163M | - | KoBold Metals is an AI-powered mineral exploration company founded in 2018, headquartered in Berkeley, California, that uses machine learning to discover deposits of critical minerals like copper, lithium, and nickel for the clean energy transition, operating in the US, Canada, Australia, and Africa, with key projects including the Mingomba copper mine in Zambia. The company raised $280M in a Series C round in November 2025 to advance mineral exploration and development projects; this follows prior rounds including a $537M Series C in October 2024 led by Durable Capital Partners and T. Rowe Price, valuing the company at $2.96B, with backers like Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (Bill Gates), Bond Capital, and StepStone. Total funding across rounds exceeds $1.2B, with earlier valuations reaching unicorn status (~$1B) in 2023. The firm differentiates through AI to improve exploration efficiency and reduce environmental impact amid rising demand for minerals to meet climate goals like a sixfold production increase by 2040 per IEA. |
| Oct 2024 | Series C | Durable Capital Partners (lead); T. Rowe Price (lead); WCM Investment Management; StepStone Group; Breakthrough Energy Ventures; Andreessen Horowitz; Earthshot Ventures; July Fund; Standard Investments; Equinor Ventures; Mitsubishi Electric; Bond | $537M | $3B | KoBold Metals is a Silicon Valley-based artificial intelligence company that uses machine learning and advanced data analytics to discover major deposits of critical minerals including copper, lithium, nickel, and cobalt. The company leverages satellite imagery, drilling reports, and geological data to identify mineral-rich locations across five continents, representing a significant technological shift in mineral exploration away from traditional methods. In January 2025, KoBold Metals closed a Series C funding round raising $537 million, with the round co-led by Durable Capital Partners and T. Rowe Price. The funding valued the company at $2.96 billion and attracted participation from prominent investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (backed by Bill Gates), Mitsubishi, StepStone Group, WCM Investment Management, and existing shareholders. KoBold has now raised approximately $1 billion in total funding across multiple rounds. The company's most notable project is the Mingomba copper mine in Zambia, where it discovered one of the world's largest undeveloped copper deposits with ore grades around 5%—potentially the highest-grade Zambian discovery in 100 years. The Mingomba project, estimated to cost $2 billion, is expected to produce a minimum of 300,000 tonnes of copper annually from the 2030s onward. KoBold plans to allocate the Series C proceeds to expand exploration efforts globally, advance high-potential projects from discovery to production, and enhance its proprietary AI-powered exploration technology through research and development. The company is positioning itself as a critical enabler of the global energy transition by securing reliable supplies of minerals essential for electric vehicles, renewable energy infrastructure, and semiconductor technologies. CEO Kurt House indicated that approximately 40% of the new capital will be directed toward developing existing projects into operational mines, with the majority supporting the Zambian initiative. |
| Jun 2023 | Series B | T. Rowe Price (lead); Breakthrough Energy Ventures; Andreessen Horowitz; Earthshot Ventures; July Fund; Mitsubishi; BHP Ventures; Equinor Ventures; Bond | $195M | $1.1B | KoBold Metals is a Berkeley, California-based mining startup founded in 2018 by Jeff Jurinak, Josh Goldman, and Kurt Zenz House, specializing in AI-driven exploration for critical minerals like copper, cobalt, nickel, and lithium essential for batteries in electric vehicles and clean energy technologies. The company combines machine learning, data science, satellite imagery, geophysical data, and historical records to identify high-potential mineral deposits more efficiently than traditional methods, operating 60 exploration projects across North America, Africa, and Australia. In June 2023, KoBold raised $195 million in a Series B funding round led by T. Rowe Price, with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Bond, and new investors including BHP Ventures, Equinor Ventures, Earthshot Ventures, Mitsubishi Corporation, and July Fund. This round valued the company at a post-money $1.15 billion, achieving unicorn status as Silicon Valley's newest climate-tech unicorn. Proceeds were allocated to develop recently acquired copper reserves in Zambia, including a prior $150 million investment for a controlling stake in the Mingomba deposit. The funding reflects investor interest in KoBold's innovative approach amid declining success rates in traditional mineral discovery, which now requires over 10 times more capital per deposit than a generation ago. Prior to this round, KoBold had raised over $400 million, including a $192.5 million Series B in 2022. Subsequent rounds included a $537 million Series C in October 2024 at $2 billion valuation and additional funding in 2025, supporting expansion of AI technology and projects like Mingomba toward production. |
| Feb 2022 | Series B | BHP Group; Bond Capital; Breakthrough Energy Ventures; CPP Investments; Andreessen Horowitz; Earthshot Ventures; Jason Johnson; Equinor Ventures; Apollo Projects; John Zimmer; Scott Belsky | $193M | $1.1B | KoBold Metals, a Berkeley, California-based company founded in 2018, uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and cloud computing to explore for critical battery metals including cobalt, nickel, copper, and lithium essential for electric vehicles and clean energy technologies. The company has developed TerraShed, a data platform for aggregating scientific data, and Machine Prospector algorithms for subsurface predictions. It operates over 60 exploration projects across North America, Africa, and Australia, with significant investments like $150 million in December 2021 for a controlling stake in the Mingomba copper-cobalt mine in Zambia, described as the world's highest-grade undeveloped large metal deposit. In February 2022, KoBold Metals closed a $192.5 million (or approximately $195 million per some reports) Series B funding round led by T. Rowe Price, valuing the company at $1.15 billion post-money and achieving unicorn status. Investors matched the query including Andreessen Horowitz, Apollo Projects (Sam Altman's), BHP Ventures/BHP Group, Bond Capital, Breakthrough Energy Ventures (backed by Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos), CPP Investments (Canada Pension Plan Investment Board), Earthshot Ventures, Equinor Ventures, and individuals like Jason Johnson, John Zimmer, and Scott Belsky, alongside others such as Standard Investments, Mitsubishi, and Cleo Capital. This brought total funding raised to over $400 million at the time. The round supported expansion of AI-driven exploration, including partnerships like a 2021 joint venture with BHP for battery minerals in Australia and a 51% stake acquisition in Bluejay Mining's Disko-Nuussuaq project in Greenland. KoBold invests around $100 million annually in projects and emphasizes precision drilling via proprietary AI tools like efficacy of information (EOI) to improve discovery success rates amid declining traditional methods. |
| Mar 2019 | Series A | Andreessen Horowitz (lead) | $20M | - | KoBold Metals, founded in 2018 and headquartered in Berkeley, California, is an AI-driven mineral exploration company focused on discovering critical minerals for electric vehicle batteries, renewable energy, and data centers. The company raised $20 million (or $20.47 million per some sources) in its Series A round in March 2019, led by Andreessen Horowitz, to kickstart AI-driven mineral exploration initiatives. Subsequent rounds marked significant growth: a Series B in 2022/2023 raised around $195 million, achieving unicorn status at approximately $1 billion valuation, led by T. Rowe Price with participation from Andreessen Horowitz and Breakthrough Energy Ventures. This funded expansion of AI capabilities, mineral discovery operations, and development of copper reserves in Zambia, including a $150 million investment for a controlling stake in undeveloped reserves. The company maintains 60 exploration projects across North America, Africa, and Australia. Later, a Series C in 2024 raised $537 million, co-led by Durable Capital Partners and T. Rowe Price, with Andreessen Horowitz participating, pushing valuation to around $2-3 billion and total funding over $1 billion. |
Who has invested in KoBold Metals?
21 investors have backed KoBold Metals across its funding rounds, including Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Equinor Ventures, Earthshot Ventures, T. Rowe Price and Bond.
Lead investors include Durable Capital Partners, T. Rowe Price and Andreessen Horowitz.
KoBold Metals Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | Lead | Mar 2019 | ||
| 3 | Participant | Feb 2022 | ||
| 3 | Participant | Feb 2022 | ||
| 3 | Participant | Feb 2022 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Jun 2023 | ||
| 2 | Participant | Jun 2023 | ||
| 2 | Participant | Jun 2023 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2024 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2022 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2022 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Oct 2024 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Oct 2024 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Feb 2022 | ||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all 21 KoBold Metals investors. Start Free Trial | ||||
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Start Free TrialKoBold Metals Competitors
KoBold Metals competitors include listed companies like Shenzhen Intellifusion and Infleqtion, and private ones like Dream Security, Forter, Forus and Generalist AI.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Private | $100M | - | $3B | - | ||
| Private | $200M | - | $3B | 15.0x | ||
| Private | - | - | $3B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $3B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | $200M | ($3M) | $3.1B | 14.6x | ||
| Publicly listed | $29M | ($52M) | $3.1B | 64.5x |
KoBold Metals Public Comps
KoBold Metals is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Outokumpu, Alleima, Perpetua Resources, Aluminium of Egypt , Allied Gold, Shandong Humon Smelting, Endeavour Silver, Jiaxin International Res, Aluminium Bahrain and West African Resources.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $6.3B | $101M | 0.5x | 0.4x | 30.6x | 8.5x | |||
| $1.9B | $195M | 1.5x | 1.5x | 15.0x | 10.9x | |||
| - | ($112M) | - | - | (21.0x) | (13.5x) | |||
| $827M | $257M | 3.3x | 2.6x | 10.5x | 7.5x | |||
| $730M | $54M | 4.3x | 1.8x | 57.5x | 4.1x | |||
| $17B | $283M | 0.3x | 0.2x | 16.1x | 11.4x | |||
| $468M | ($25M) | 6.4x | 4.1x | (121.6x) | 9.2x | |||
| $135M | $50M | 21.6x | 6.1x | 58.1x | 7.9x | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all KoBold Metals competitors and their valuation data. Start Free Trial | ||||||||
Common questions about KoBold Metals
| When was KoBold Metals founded? | KoBold Metals was founded in 2018. |
| Where is KoBold Metals headquartered? | KoBold Metals is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States. |
| Is KoBold Metals publicly listed? | No, KoBold Metals is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is KoBold Metals' valuation? | KoBold Metals was last valued at $3B in its Series C in October 2024. |
| How much funding has KoBold Metals raised? | KoBold Metals has raised $1.1B across 5 funding rounds. |
| What was KoBold Metals' last funding round? | KoBold Metals' last funding round was a $163M undisclosed-stage round in November 2025. |
| Who are KoBold Metals' investors? | KoBold Metals' investors include Andreessen Horowitz, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Earthshot Ventures, Equinor Ventures, T. Rowe Price, July Fund, Bond, WCM Investment Management, BHP Group, Bond Capital and 11 others. |
| Which companies are comparable to KoBold Metals? | Companies comparable to KoBold Metals include Dream Security, Forter, Forus, Generalist AI, Shenzhen Intellifusion and Infleqtion. |
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