Hertha Metals: Funding Rounds, Investors & CEO

About Hertha Metals

Hertha Metals makes steel and high-purity iron in one step from iron ore of any grade. Its process, called Flex-HERS, replaces the several coal-based steps of a blast furnace with a single reactor that runs on natural gas, hydrogen and electricity. Its first target is high-purity iron for makers of rare earth magnets, which are about 70% iron by weight. Hertha also develops low-carbon steel alloys in its own laboratory. Hertha makes iron and steel for 25% less than a blast furnace.

Hertha is based in Conroe, Texas, where it runs a pilot plant. The plant has run at about one metric ton a day since late 2024. On October 8, 2026, Hertha broke ground on a larger plant next door, Hertha Chalyx, according to Fastmarkets. The plant costs roughly $100 million, according to Mining.com. Hertha expects Chalyx to make 10,000 metric tons of iron a year and start up in late 2027. Laureen Meroueh founded the company and is its chief executive.

Funding Rounds (SEC Form D)

First sale	Filed with SEC	Amount sold	Investors	Avg. check	Terms	Filing
May 24, 2024	Oct 27, 2026	$17,674,996fully sold	5	$3.5M	EquityRule 506(b)	Form D ↗
Apr 7, 2026	Oct 27, 2026	$133,649,961fully sold	9	$14.8M	EquityRule 506(b)	Form D ↗
Total, two offerings		$151,324,957

First sale is the date the first investor in the offering committed to invest. Companies must file Form D within 15 days of that date, so filing dates run later.

Rounds announced by Hertha Metals

What the company said publicly about its funding. Announced amounts can differ from Form D figures: an announcement can combine several closings, and some money is raised without a Form D.

Announced	Round	Amount	Investors	Source
Sep 29, 2026	Series A	$133.65M	Khosla Ventures and Doerr Capital (co-leads), U.S. Government ($65M equity through its IBAS program), CEV, Pear Ventures, Gates Frontier, Niterra SUISO no MORI Fund, Toyota Ventures, Siemens Financial Services	Press release ↗ Mining Weekly ↗
Jul 22, 2025	Funding	$17M+	Khosla Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Fellows, Pear VC, Clean Energy Ventures	herthametals.com ↗ Press release ↗

Why Investors Backed Hertha Metals

Investors put money into Hertha Metals for a simple reason. Khosla Ventures partner Rajesh Swaminathan says Hertha has cracked making iron and steel in one step, below blast furnace cost, in the United States. The country imports almost all of the high-purity iron that rare earth magnets need and has no domestic producer. Khosla Ventures and Doerr Capital co-led a $133.65 million Series A in September 2026, with $65 million from the U.S. government, to build Hertha Chalyx, the company's first commercial plant.

The problem it targets

Neodymium-iron-boron magnets, the kind used in electric vehicles, wind turbines and defense systems, are about 70% high-purity iron by weight. The United States has no domestic production of that iron and imports almost all of it. China makes about 94% of it, according to Chron. The usual way to make iron, the blast furnace, uses coal and several separate steps. Hertha's case is that the blast furnace route costs more and emits more than its own process.

What the product does

Hertha's Flex-HERS process turns iron ore into molten steel or high-purity iron in a single step. It accepts any grade of ore, including fines (small particles of ore) and mill scale (a waste product of steelmaking). It runs on natural gas, hydrogen and electricity. It cuts production costs by 25% compared with blast furnaces. Emissions fall by 50% with natural gas and up to 98% with hydrogen. Hertha offers trial quantities of iron that is at least 99.9% pure.

Progress so far

Hertha's pilot plant has run continuously at about one metric ton a day since late 2024. It now describes a demonstration facility that makes 360 tons a year. In August 2026 the company reached 99.95% purity, the level top magnet makers require, according to Mining.com. Hertha is qualifying its iron with major U.S. magnet producers, but it has named no customer. It won first place at the U.S. Department of Energy's EPIC startup pitch competition in June 2024. On October 8, 2026, it broke ground on Hertha Chalyx, according to Fastmarkets.

Who backs it

Khosla Ventures and Doerr Capital co-led the $133.65 million Series A announced on September 29, 2026. CEV, Pear Ventures, Gates Frontier, Niterra SUISO no MORI Fund, Toyota Ventures and Siemens Financial Services also joined. The round includes $65 million of equity from the U.S. government, made through a defense program called Industrial Base Analysis and Sustainment. Khosla led the earlier seed round and has "doubled down at every round since," partner Rajesh Swaminathan said. Doerr partner Ryan Panchadsaram said the winning industrial technologies "are the ones that are cheaper, cleaner, and better performing."

How the market is moving

A federal rule sets a deadline. From January 2027, the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement bans Chinese-origin magnets and their constituent materials from covered defense systems, according to Mining Digital. Washington is also paying to build a magnet supply chain outside China. Federal funding for rare earths and permanent magnets totaled $2.9 billion in June, according to Fastmarkets. Niron Magnetics, which develops magnets without rare earths, received $150 million in August, according to the same report. Meroueh told Fastmarkets that the 50% Section 232 steel tariffs help level the field against subsidized imports.

We wrote this summary from public statements by Hertha Metals and its investors. It is not investment advice.