In Mississippi, a local newspaper is alleging that KiOR executives pulled off a “bait and switch” scam securing by an offtake for refined crude oil rather than to refine crude bio-oil as required by the state to secure a $75 million loan in taxpayer money. Emails seen by the newspaper show concerns began as far […]
In Mississippi, the former CEO of KiOR, Fred Cannon, and the successor company to KIOR have been ordered by a federal district court judge to pay $3 million to the 23,000 shareholders who lost their money in the failed venture, along with $1.5 million plus fees for attorneys. The state’s suit against the former company […]
Our story so far In 2011, KiOR raised $150 million in its June IPO, claiming that it was generating yields of 67 gallons per ton in its Demo unit operations. But it was miles short of that. In our previous installments, we have charted how KiOR moved from a promising early-stage technology to a public […]
In Washington, the US Securities and Exchange Commission has charged Texas-based Mard, Inc., formerly known as KiOR, Inc., and its former CEO and President Fred Cannon for “failing to disclose important assumptions about the yield that KiOR had claimed to have achieved through the company’s proprietary process of converting wood and other biomass into crude […]
Our story so far In 2011, KiOR raised $150 million in its June IPO, claiming that it was generating yields of 67 gallons per ton in its Demo unit operations. But it was miles short of that. In our previous installments, we have charted how KiOR moved from a promising early-stage technology to a public […]
Our story so far KiOR was hanging by a thread as the summer of 2010 commenced. In a few days, the first recorded visitors to Pasadena demo unit, representatives of the Mississippi Development Authority, were expecting to see the demonstration unit in action. The company was beginning to hurtle towards an IPO. But the fuel […]
Note. This is Part 2 of our series on the inside true story of KiOR. In part 1 of our series, here, we explored: the formation of BIOeCON and KiOR, the problem of too much oxygen and coke, the entry of Khosla Ventures, and the loss of a CEO. Also, “a recipe for technical failure”, disastrous pilot […]
Not long ago, KiOR quietly re-named itself Inaeris Technologies and launched a modest website which discussed the technology and management in little detail, but focused to an extraordinary extent on a declaration of values. Empowerment, honesty, fairness, “lessons learned from our collective experience” and so on. Warm, kindly Hallmark Card sentiments, universally popular, admired and […]
In Mississippi, Georgia Renewable Power and Renewable Energy Group have been slow in removing the equipment they bought at auction in October from the former KiOR facility which is hampering sale of the site to foreign investors from Russia, India and another Asian country who individually want to take it over. The equipment was meant […]
In Mississippi, KiOR has made good on the $1.1 million in back taxes it owed to local authorities, nine months late and eventually assessed with a 1% late payment fee. The funds will be split almost evenly between the local school district, the county and the city of Columbus where the facility is located. The […]
