Osage Bio Energy has received a $300 million equity commitment from First Reserve Corp., to construct four bio-refining facilities that will produce ethanol and a specialty protein feed. Osage is a Glen Allen, Va.-based company founded last year to developer the country’s first major barley to ethanol production facilities. It is a sister company of Osage Inc., which distributes motor-fuel grade ethanol in the Southeast. Read more…
Imperium Renewables — As one of the nation’s most heavily-funded privately-funded biofuels company, Imperium Renewables has gotten plenty of press — both positive and negative — for its plans to produce ethanol in a struggling coastal town in Washington. However, nobody was expecting the company to suddenly announce the departure iCEO Martin Tobias.
Ethos will produce its ethanol in South America — An ethanol production company backed by venture capitalists in the United States plans to head south to make its margins. Ethos, a Cambridge, Mass. company, is considering both Latin America and the Carribean for establishing biofuel facilities, and plans to use sugar as its feedstock, according to VentureWire. The company is funded by Khosla Ventures and GreatPoint Ventures.
Vaperma is a Quebec City, Canada based company that makes dewatering systems for ethanol producers.
Water is a by-product of ethanol production, and must be removed before the product is finished. Vaperma’s specialized membranes can selectively drain the water away, a method the company says is cheaper than distillation columns or chemical dryers.
The CDN $21.5 million funding (about USD $23.1 million) was led by Low Carbon Accelerator Limited. Also participating were Volvo Technology Transfer Corporation, BDC Capital, Emerald Technology Ventures, and Fons d’investissement en developpement durable (FIDD).
Ceres, a Thousand Oaks, Calif. company seeking ways to produce plant biomass more efficiently for use in a new generation of alternative fuels, has raised a $75 million in financing.
Ceres has studied and collected sequenced plant genes to find fuels for cellulosic ethanol production, in order to create a more efficient and cleaner version of ethanol — which it hopes will replace gasoline as a transportation fuel. It’s just one several well-backed companies pursuing this.
Ceres works with switchgrass, sorghum, miscanthus, energycane and other woody species. One of its first seed products, a high-yielding switchgrass cultivar, is scheduled for commercial launch in 2009.
The financing was led by Warburg Pincus, and was made in the form of debt that will later convert into stock.
The company has previously raised $77 million including from Artal Luxembourg, Oxford Bioscience Partners, GIMV, H&Q, KBC, Monsanto Co., Oppenheimer Funds, QuestMark Partners, Towerbrook Capital Partner and Soros.
Back in 2001, the company’s private value was nearly $200 million, but no word on what it is now.
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