Gates and Bezos-backed KoBold Metals raise $537 million in race to acquire critical metals

The round was co-led by new investor Dubrary Capital Partners LP and a pair of T. Rowe Price funds that made their first investment in the company.

The financing included participation from existing KoBold investors Andreessen Horowitz Growth, BOND, Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, Earthshot Ventures, Equinor, July Fund, Mitsubishi Corporation and Standard Investments, as well as new investors StepStone Group and WCM Investment Management.

Berkeley, California-based KoBold uses artificial intelligence to find deposits of minerals such as copper, lithium and nickel.

According to the company, the investment will fund new exploration, help bring “high-potential” projects into production, and boost research and development. It has raised $1 billion so far.

In February, kobold cooperated With Canadian company Midnight Sun Mining (TSXV: MMA) to explore the Zambian copper belt. The Midnight Sun project is located just a few kilometers from First Quantum Minerals’ (TSX: FM) Kansanshi mine, the largest copper mining complex in Africa.

The Dumbwa KoBold target will be explored in the southern part of the Solwezi Project and features a 20 km long soil anomaly with a peak grade of 0.73% copper.

Dumbwa drilling highlights include:

• 13 meters 0.63% copper, of which 3 meters 1.3% copper, starting 85 meters downhole;
• 12 meters of 0.65% copper, including 6 meters of 1.06% copper, starting at the surface;
• 13.5 meters of 0.77% copper from a distance of 5 metres;
• 16 meters of 1.24% copper from 164 metres; and
• 15 meters of 0.71% copper from 34 metres.

KoBold aims to produce at least 300,000 tons per year by 2030 at its flagship $2 billion Mingomba project, making it the country’s largest copper producer. The company said it will begin sinking the mining shaft in the first half of 2026.

About 40% of the new capital will be spent developing existing projects into mines, with the Zambian copper project taking “the lion’s share of that,” said Kobold co-founder and CEO Kurt House.

KoBold began its search for battery metals nearly five years ago in Canada, then Acquired rights To an area in northern Quebec, south of Glencore’s Raglan nickel mine, where lithium was discovered.

The startup is now developing 60 active projects covering four continents: Africa, North America, Australia and Asia. Using artificial intelligence, Kobold aims to create “Google maps” of the Earth’s crust, with a focus on finding deposits of copper, cobalt, nickel and lithium.

It collects and analyzes multiple data streams – from ancient drilling results to satellite images – to better understand where new deposits can be found. Algorithms applied to the collected data identify geological patterns that indicate potential deposits of cobalt, which occurs naturally alongside nickel and copper.

Cobbold said the technology can identify resources that may have eluded traditional geologists and can help miners decide where to source land and drill.