West Coast startup Diamond Foundry is ushering in a new precious-mineral rush in California—this time for clear, undetectably lab-grown diamonds made by plasma reactor technology that mimics the outer core of the sun.
When founder and CEO Martin Roscheisen had trouble getting his solar-panel company off the ground, he refitted its technology into the five-year-old Diamond Foundry, which produces 100,000 carats a year in its new South San Francisco facility and had around $100 million in sales last year.
The company’s raw products are sold wholesale to jewelers around the world and used in-house for its direct-to-consumer jewelry brand, Vrai & Oro, which Diamond Foundry acquired in November 2016. Geared toward millennial women, with unique cuts, a 121,000-follower-strong Instagram presence, and ethical sourcing (no blood diamonds!), Vrai & Oro accounted for 50% of Diamond Foundry’s 2017 revenue. “We’re fully integrated, from mine to finger,” says Roscheisen.
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