Hooman Reza Nezhad

Hooman Reza Nezhad is the CEO of Solcoa Industries, the first rare earth recycler capable of converting end-of-life magnets directly into the metals powering every EV, wind turbine, smartphone and fighter jet.

Driven by early exposure to environmental destruction, Hooman began building climate technologies in his garage at 13 and was working in university labs by 14. At 16, he became the youngest researcher at the University of Waterloo’s Energy Research Center, developing processes to extract oxygen and metals from Martian soil.

Shortly after high school, he was awarded the $200,000 Thiel Fellowship by Peter Thiel, doubling down to build one of the only Western companies capable of producing the critical rare earth metals that power the modern world.

Solcoa is backed by large institutional investors and several founders of well-known multi-billion-dollar companies in defense and related industries. At its new Alameda facility, Solcoa is already producing several tons/year of rare-earth metal alloy and is scaling to supply a third of U.S. demand by 2028.