Company:Diamond Foundry

From HandWiki
Short description: American lab-grown diamond company
Diamond Foundry
TypePrivate
IndustryDiamonds
Founded2012[1]
Headquarters,
United States
ProductsManmade diamonds
Number of employees
120[1]
Websitewww.diamondfoundry.com

Diamond Foundry is a producer of lab grown diamonds in San Francisco, California , United States .[2] Diamond Foundry claims that its lab-grown diamonds are of similar quality to natural diamonds and are more environmentally sustainable, as they do not require the extraction and processing of diamonds from the earth.

History

Diamond Foundry was founded in 2012 by Martin Roscheisen and Jeremy Scholz.[1] The company raised approximately $315 million in funding from various investors, including $200 million from Fidelity, Sun Microsystems and Google founding investor Andy Bechtolsheim, iPod co-creator Tony Fadell, eBay founding president Jeff Skoll, Twitter founder Evan Williams, Facebook co-founder Andrew McCollum, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and businessman Jean Pigozzi.[3][4]

In November 2016, the company purchased Vrai and Oro, a jewelry brand founded by entrepreneur Vanessa Stofenmacher.[5] In 2020, they rebranded as VRAI, and in 2021, opened a showroom in Los Angeles .[6]

In March 2022, Diamond Foundry announced a lawsuit against the United States Trade Office in response to trade tariffs put in place against China .[7] The company claimed the tariffs penalize businesses to an excessive degree for using polishing services in China.[7]

Technology

The company used software simulations of plasma physics to develop its technology for managing a high-density plasma for diamond growth at high temperatures.[8]

The company grows diamonds using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, a vacuum deposition process in which a small piece of natural diamond is placed in a plasma reactor for a period of about two weeks.[9] The resulting man-made diamond is essentially identical to naturally occurring diamonds (atomically, molecularly, chemically, visually, in terms of hardness, optical brilliance, crystalline structure, etc.) but without the resource intensiveness, hazards, and environmental concerns that occur with diamond mining.[10]

Awards and recognition

  • "25 hottest startups that launched in 2015", by Business Insider[11]
  • One of the "Disruptor 50 Companies" in 2016, by CNBC [12]
  • "Disruptive 25" in 2016, by Inc. Magazine[13]
  • One of "The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies" in 2018 by Fast Company[14][15]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Diamond Foundry". Inc. Magazine. https://www.inc.com/profile/diamond-foundry. 
  2. "Company" (in en). https://diamondfoundry.com/pages/about-diamond-foundry. 
  3. Shontell, Alyson (November 11, 2015). "10 billionaires and Leonardo DiCaprio invested in a startup that claims it can grow hundreds of real diamonds in two weeks". http://www.businessinsider.com/diamond-foundry-raises-money-from-leonardo-dicaprio-and-other-billionaires-to-grow-diamonds-2015-11. 
  4. Pettitt, Jeniece (December 15, 2015). "Diamond Foundry makes high-end diamonds in a lab". https://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/15/diamond-foundry-makes-high-end-diamonds-in-a-lab.html. 
  5. "Diamond Foundry-Owned Brand to Open First Retail Location". nationaljeweler.com. https://www.nationaljeweler.com/articles/1355-diamond-foundry-owned-brand-to-open-first-retail-location. 
  6. "Vrai Goes High Art and High Touch for New Los Angeles Showroom". jckonline.com. https://www.jckonline.com/editorial-article/vrai-goes-high-art-for-showroom/. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 Chiu, Richard (2022-03-21). "Diamond Foundry announces lawsuit against US Government". https://www.jewellermagazine.com/Article/10541/Diamond-Foundry-announces-lawsuit-against-US-Government. 
  8. "Borrowing From Solar and Chip Tech to Make Diamonds". November 12, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/12/science/borrowing-from-solar-and-chip-tech-to-make-diamonds-faster-and-cheaper.html. 
  9. "Company claims it can 'grow' diamonds in a lab". November 11, 2015. http://video.foxnews.com/v/4607781946001/?#sp=show-clips. 
  10. Earth911 (2021-08-23). "The Environmental Impact of Lab-Grown Diamonds" (in en-US). https://earth911.com/style/the-environmental-impact-of-lab-grown-diamonds/. 
  11. Carson, Biz; Kosoff, Maya (December 10, 2015). "The 25 hottest startups that launched in 2015". http://www.businessinsider.com/best-startups-that-launched-in-2015-2015-5/16/. 
  12. "Meet the 2016 CNBC Disruptor 50 companies". June 7, 2016. https://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/07/2016-cnbcs-disruptor-50.html. 
  13. "The 25 Most Disruptive Companies of the Year". https://www.inc.com/disruptive-25. 
  14. "The World's Most Innovative Companies 2018: Honorees by Sector: Style". https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2018/sectors/style. 
  15. "The World's Most Innovative Companies 2018". https://www.fastcompany.com/most-innovative-companies/2018. 

External links