We talked to Jonathan Rowntree, CEO of Niron Magnetics. They’ve been busting out of their Minneapolis headquarters and will be opening a manufacturing facility in Sartell in 2027. Jonathan shared that in the next few years, they plan to raise several hundred million more dollars, IPO, hit $1 billion in revenue, and open multiple manufacturing facilities around the world.

Niron makes a powerful magnet that has the potential to reshape global politics. But why should you care about magnets? Your phone, your car, air conditioning, planes, and every electronic device needs them to function.

Most magnets on earth require rare materials with big names like neodymium, praseodymium, dysprosium to function. China controls 80-90% of the production and processing of all of those minerals, and to date, has total control over the global magnet supply chain. 

Their story also has a special Minnesota twist. Niron was born out of research from legendary University of Minnesota professor Jian-Ping Wang, and uses iron and nitrogen to power their technology, pairing an abundant resource in Northern Minnesota with a by-product of fertilizer used for farming across the agricultural parts of our state. Niron recently announced they will be hiring 175 people in Sartell across technical, engineering, and operations roles. This follows a local scholarship announcement to working with the Sartell-St. Stephen Dollars for Scholars program to fund awards for students at four-year Minnesota universities and at St. Cloud Technical and Community College. 

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