by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) Despite the sluggish economic recovery and questions over policy stability — biofuels ventures have been busy raising lots of capital. In the past 6 months, $434 million. Who got what, where, when and why?
…supplemental oxygen, in the form of equity, is the mother’s milk of success.
The big raises: Solazyme and Beta Renewables
In January, Solazyme announced the pricing of its offering of $115 million aggregate principal amount of Convertible Senior Subordinated Notes due 2018 in a private placement.
…The capital raise was matched in this period back in October, when Novozymes and Beta Renewables announced an agreement to jointly market, demonstrate and guarantee cellulosic biofuel solutions. As part of the agreement, Novozymes will acquire a 10% share in Beta Renewables, paying approximately $115 million cash for the equity, marketing fees, other intellectual property rights and milestone payments.
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Waste to Energy
Outside of the Solazyme and Beta Renewables raises, the biggest capital activity was in the waste-to-energy sector, where two companies indicated that they had secured $107.5M in equity commitments.
In December, Fulcrum BioEnergy announced that it has successfully secured commitments and was proceeding toward closing $175 million in financing to fund construction of its first municipal solid waste to low-carbon fuels plant, the Sierra BioFuels Plant and to fund the development of future projects. …
In January, Enerkem announced that it closed a $37.5 million financing with Waste Management of Canada Corporation, a subsidiary of Waste Management, and EB Investments for Enerkem Alberta Biofuels L.P.
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Over in the EU
Two small-ish but significant capital raises took place in the EU during the past six months — one for a hydrogen player and one based on proprietary extremophilic anaerobic bacteria.
In France, the Ecotechnologies fund made its second investment in the hydrogen company McPhy Energy. …
In Germany, Direvo Industrial Biotechnology announced the successful closure of a financing round of three and a $4.5 million to fund the sustainable growth of the company.
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The Brazil connection
There were three major capital events in this period that had “Brazil” written all over them — a raise by Amyris, one by Ensyn, and one by Eco-Energy.
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AustralAsian flavors
Two capital events shifted our attention away from the US, Brail and the EU and over to Australasia, as two key projects focused on algae biofuels and drop-in fuels from wood biomass and residues took major steps forward.
The Minister for Resources and Energy, the Hon. Martin Ferguson, announced $5.5 million for Licella to assess the feasibility of constructing its first pre-commercial biofuel plant; and $4.5 million for Muradel to demonstrate its algal biofuel technology. READ MORE