KoBold used artificial intelligence to find copper. Investors are now raising $537 million

KoBold Metals closed a $537 million Series C on Wednesday to help build a multibillion-dollar mine to exploit a copper deposit it found using artificial intelligence.

The new funding round, led by Sustainable Capital Partners and T Rowe Price, will be used to expand the company’s exploration efforts across five continents and develop a giant copper deposit in Zambia. The funding round valued KoBold at $2.96 billion. according to to the Financial Times.

The latest closing of the round brought the company $10 million more than it originally expected. TechCrunch information is provided exclusively About fundraising in October.

Few industries are as poised for technological disruption as mining. The business is notoriously risky: only three out of every 1,000 potential deposits are commercially viable.

Founded in 2018, KoBold uses artificial intelligence to scan massive geological data sets to increase its success rate. The company’s decision to develop the Zambian resource, which it estimates is one of the largest found, shows that this approach can pay off.

Critical minerals have grown in importance in recent years as the US and China clash over supplies. China has already banned shipments of antimony, gallium and germanium to the United States and proposed today. limiting technologies for the processing of lithium and gallium.

Andreessen Horowitz, Bond, Breakthrough Energy Ventures, Earthshot VC, Equinor, July Fund, Mitsubishi, Standard Investments, StepStone and WCM Investment Management also participated in the round. Previous investors include Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Jack Ma.