Rare-earth magnets manufacturer Vulcan Elements announced on Monday that it raised $65 million in a new funding round led by US-based investment firm Altimeter Capital Management, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The startup was valued at around $250 million in the latest funding round, after previously raising about $10 million in seed funding, which helped the company open a pilot manufacturing facility in Durham, North Carolina, and start making magnets for military and commercial clients.
"When you talked about rare-earth magnets a couple years ago, they would look at you like you're insane," Vulcan's CEO John Maslin said. "People actually understand the strategic importance of onshoring this now," he added, noting that the new funding will be dedicated to building a large-scale facility capable of producing hundreds of metric tons of magnets per year within the next few years, and scaling up to thousands of tons by decade's end.
