Two-year-old AI mining startup Mariana raises $400M at $1.6B valuation, backed by a16z and In-Q-Tel
espricewright · x · 2026-10-25
- Mariana Minerals, a two-year-old mining company, raised $400M at a $1.6B valuation, with a16z, Khosla Ventures and the CIA's In-Q-Tel on the cap table.
- Co-founder J.C. Calzano's strategy: buy mines after the market gives up on them, then run them with software and AI.
- Podcast topics include how to actually buy a mine, why AI's real bottleneck is metal, the idea that every mining truck is a robot without a brain, and why the cheapest AI company wins.
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