Solcoa Industries, a California-based rare earth metals producer, has raised $75 million in financing to build its first commercial production facility, called Solcoa One.
The financing includes $45 million in equity funding led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from Gigascale Capital, Long Journey, Felicis, Dylan Field and other investors from the defense and technology sectors.
The round also includes $30 million in debt and equipment financing, anchored by J.P. Morgan.
Solcoa will use the funding to build and commission Solcoa One, expand reactor manufacturing at its Alameda facility and grow its engineering and research teams.
Rare earth metals are used to make high-performance magnets that power electric vehicles, robots and defense systems. However, converting rare earth oxides into metal remains a major challenge, with China controlling most of the world’s rare earth metallization capacity.
“You will not beat China by copying China. The last time America invented a fundamentally new way to make a primary metal was with titanium in the 1940s, and that breakthrough built an entire industry,” said Hooman Reza Nezhad, CEO of Solcoa Industries. “We believe rare earths are the foundation of America’s next great industrial era, and we intend to win on the merits of superior American technology.”
Founded in 2025, Solcoa is developing an alternative metalmaking process designed to reduce energy use, costs and environmental impact compared with traditional methods.
The company uses modular reactors that can be manufactured and deployed more quickly than conventional large-scale plants. Solcoa says its process also avoids harmful emissions associated with some traditional rare earth metal production methods.
Solcoa has already scaled from a laboratory reactor to producing more than 10 tonnes of magnet-grade metal per year at its Alameda facility. The company currently produces neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr) and samarium metal and has started shipping its products.
“Solcoa is already producing rare earth metal at 10 tonnes a year, with a process clean enough to run right here in Alameda, something legacy metallization never could. In just one year, the team has validated a genuinely novel process and chemistry, and they’re scaling fast toward commercially meaningful tonnage,” said Mike Schroepfer, former CTO of Meta and Founding Partner of Gigascale Capital.
“American manufacturers have had no real alternative to a Chinese-controlled supply chain for the metal inside every high-performance magnet, and the 2027 defense deadline makes that a today problem,” said Alysaa Co, Partner at Bain Capital Ventures. “Solcoa closes that gap with a process invented and proven on U.S. soil, at a scale that actually matters.”
“Western production of magnet-grade rare earth metals rounds to zero, posing an urgent and growing threat to domestic technology and defense industries. Solcoa is the only company attacking this problem with innovation and scale. We’re proud to back Hooman and his team as they build the metals company America needs,” said James Detweiler, General Partner at Felicis.
The new Solcoa One facility is being developed in Nevada and is expected to have annual production capacity of 500 tonnes. The company says the facility could produce enough NdPr to supply magnets for up to one million electric vehicles.
The investment comes as the US and defense suppliers work to secure alternative sources of rare earth metals and reduce dependence on overseas supply chains.
Solcoa plans to use the new financing to expand domestic production and build its position in the US rare earth metals supply chain.
