US start-up KoBold Metals, backed by Gates and Bezos, raises $537M in race for Africa’s rare metals

In a remarkable move, the billionaire duo — Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos — have joined forces, pumping $537 million into mining ventures targeting rare metals across Africa.

KoBold Metals, a US mining start-up backed by investors including Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, has raised $537 million in its latest Series C funding round, as it seeks to become a key player in the race for lithium, cobalt, platinum, and other critical minerals crucial for the energy transition.

According to the company, the new investment, which is about half of the $1 billion raised to date, will finance new exploration, help advance “high-potential” projects to production, and bolster research and development. This provides the African countries with the opportunity to generate significant revenue by tapping into the growing demand for rare metals.

The Berkeley, California-based company, said its latest funding round valued KoBold at $2.96 billion, having drawn financing from existing investors, such as Andreessen Horowitz Growth, BOND, Gates’ Breakthrough Energy, Mitsubishi Corporation or Standard Investments, as well as new investors StepStone Group and WCM Investment Management.

KoBold is involved in nearly 60 explorations projects across three continents, including a vast copper in Zambia, Africa’s second-largest copper producer, discovered last year. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Africa’s top copper producer, also stands to benefit significantly from this discovery. KoBold uses artificial intelligence (AI) to find deposits of minerals, aiming to create a “Google Maps” of the Earth’s crust.