Solcoa raises $75M seed to build largest rare earth metal plant outside China
What's the deal? Solcoa IndustriesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has raised $75 million in a seed round of equity and debt to develop a rare earth metal-making plant, chief executive officer Hooman Reza Nezhad told Axios Pro. Bain Capital Ventures led the $45 million equity portion, with participation from Gigascale CapitalDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Long JourneyDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, Felicis, and Figma founder Dylan Field. JPMorganDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → anchored $30 million in debt and equipment financing.
How it works: Solcoa has developed a high-temperature chemical process to produce rare earth metals from raw materials it buys from France, the US, and Malaysia. It says the method is cleaner, more efficient, and cost-competitive with conventional methods scaled in China.
What's the endgame? The money will fund Solcoa's research and pilot facility in Alameda, California, and a 500-ton-per-year plant in Nevada serving the auto and defense sectors. That capacity could supply rare earth metals for more than a million cars, Reza Nezhad said.
Why now? China's suspension last year of rare earth metal and magnet exports drove a surge in investor and entrepreneurial interest in the sector. The US government has also ramped up support for a domestic rare earth supply chain.
Zoom in: The Nevada plant, set for commissioning in July 2027, will be "the largest rare earth metallization plant outside of China," Reza Nezhad said. Solcoa plans a second plant next door, capable of producing 3,000 tons per year.
Who's behind it? Reza Nezhad, a 19-year-old Canadian and former space technology researcher, traces the idea to a high school project on producing oxygen and metals from Martian soil. "If you can reduce different mixtures of oxides on Mars, why can't you do that on Earth?" he said. His co-founder and chief technology officer is Artem Iurkovskyi, a 22-year-old Worcester Polytechnic Institute researcher.
The signal: At $75 million, this seed ranks among the largest ever for a US energy startup — in roughly the 99th percentile of some 3,000 such rounds. It reflects how sharply capital is flowing toward efforts to loosen China's grip on materials that Reza Nezhad calls "the foundation of a lot of modern technology."
Image credit: Solcoa Industries
