Metalshub

About Metalshub

Metalshub operates as a software provider and digital marketplace focused on the metals and mining industry. The company was founded in 2016 by Dr. Frank Jackel and Dr. Sebastian Kreft, who previously worked together at the mining company Anglo American. Their shared experience in the sector, where they observed trading processes to be manual, opaque, and reliant on outdated methods, motivated them to establish a digital platform to address these inefficiencies. Jackel has a background in materials science and previously worked for The Boston Consulting Group, while Kreft's experience includes roles at The Boston Consulting Group and as Head of Nickel Sales at Anglo American.

Headquartered in Düsseldorf, Germany, Metalshub launched its platform in 2017 after its initial founding in London. The company facilitates the physical buying and selling of a wide range of raw materials, including ferroalloys, metals, scrap, and battery materials. Its business model is centered on a transaction-based system, earning a commission on trades, and offering premium subscription services for features like advanced market analytics and customized reporting. This dual revenue structure aligns the company's interests with its users, promoting enhancements to the trading experience. The platform serves a diverse client base that includes steel mills, foundries, mining corporations, recycling companies, traders, and battery cell manufacturers.

The core of Metalshub's offering is a SaaS-based platform that streamlines the entire transaction process, from negotiation and counterparty discovery to logistics and financing. It provides tools for real-time market data, secure document sharing, and managing compliance checks, aiming to increase transparency and efficiency in a market traditionally characterized by offline processes. The platform also generates transaction-based price indices for various commodities, offering a more reliable data source than traditional survey-based methods. Significant milestones include a Seed funding round of approximately $3.5 million in 2018, followed by a Series A round of about $11 million in 2021, led by Acton Capital. By May 2021, the platform had onboarded over 1,100 companies and facilitated more than $750 million in trading volume.