Podknife - Ep 97: Kurt House, Co-Founder & CEO of KoBold Metals by My Climate Journey

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Ep 97: Kurt House, Co-Founder & CEO of KoBold Metals

Podcast |: My Climate Journey
Publisher |: Jason Jacobs, Cody Simms, Yin Lu
Media Type |: audio
Podknife tags |: Climate Change,; Interview,; Science & Medicine
Categories Via RSS |: Business,; Science,; Technology
Publication Date |: Apr 09, 2020
Episode Duration |: 00:35:33

Description
iTunes Summary

In today’s episode, we cover:

KoBold’s team and its business
Why cobalt is known as the “goblin metal”
The collaboration of software engineering, data science and mineral exploration at KoBold
KoBold’s “machine prospector”
Kurt’s journey to taking action on climate change
Why cobalt makes for a good ingredient in batteries
Why cobalt is known as the “blood diamond of metals”
KoBold’s technology and the “messy data problem”
KoBold’s business model
Investment from Equinor and reconciling working with an oil and gas company

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

KoBold Metals: https://www.koboldmetals.com/
Connie Chan’s announcement of Andreessen Horowitz’ investment: https://a16z.com/2019/03/04/kobold-metals/
Equinor: https://www.equinor.com/en.html

Get connected with MCJ:

Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube

*If you liked this episode, please consider giving us a review! You can also reach us via email at info@mcj.vc, where we encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

Today's guest is Kurt House, Co-Founder & CEO of KoBold Metals. KoBold Metals is a minerals exploration startup, applying data science to the discovery of deposits of minerals such as cobalt, a key component of EV batteries. Backed by notable VCs, Andreessen Horowitz and Breakthrough Energy Ventures, KoBold Metals’ business is predicated on analyzing troves of geologic data to ascertain the presence of economically-viable concentrations of sought-after ores. With a PhD in Earth & Planetary Science, Kurt founded C12 Energy, which developed enhanced oil recovery projects using CO2 from industrial sources. He has also spent time at Bain & Company as a consultant and at MIT as a research fellow. Concurrent with his role as CEO of KoBold, he is an Adjunct Professor at Stanford. This was a great discussion, which I was able to do in person at Stanford. Kurt has deep knowledge of the science of cobalt and its applications in EV batteries, as well as drilling, in general. Moreover, his company is a great example of the integration of software-oriented Silicon Valley talent with industrial mineral/mining expertise. I hope you find this discussion as thought-provoking as I did. Enjoy the show! You can find me on twitter @jjacobs22 or @mcjpod and email at info@myclimatejourney.co, where I encourage you to share your feedback on episodes and suggestions for future topics or guests.

In today’s episode, we cover:

KoBold’s team and its business
Why cobalt is known as the “goblin metal”
The collaboration of software engineering, data science and mineral exploration at KoBold
KoBold’s “machine prospector”
Kurt’s journey to taking action on climate change
Why cobalt makes for a good ingredient in batteries
Why cobalt is known as the “blood diamond of metals”
KoBold’s technology and the “messy data problem”
KoBold’s business model
Investment from Equinor and reconciling working with an oil and gas company

Links to topics discussed in this episode:

KoBold Metals: https://www.koboldmetals.com/
Connie Chan’s announcement of Andreessen Horowitz’ investment: https://a16z.com/2019/03/04/kobold-metals/
Equinor: https://www.equinor.com/en.html

Get connected with MCJ:

Cody Simms X / LinkedIn
MCJ Podcast / Collective / YouTube

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