Bill Gates-backed ‘green iron company’ Electra steps into the spotlight with $85M raise

BOULDER — Electra, a Boulder-based clean-tech company that claims to have developed a process for making iron and steel using less energy and with more-abundant materials, has raised $85 million, a fundraising round led by Bill Gates-founded Breakthrough Energy Ventures.

The investment will allow the company to continue honing its process that “produce[s] low-temperature iron (LTI) from commercial and low-grade ores using zero-carbon intermittent electricity,” Electra said Friday in a news release.

The production method is designed to be less expensive and less detrimental to the environment than conventional iron and steel-making processes, Electra said. 

“Decarbonizing ironmaking is essential for a zero carbon…