Amyris raises $24.7 million in first tranche of Series C funding; aims for $62 million in total for commercialization drive

In California, Amyris Biotechnologies said in an SEC filing that it has raised $24.7 million in Series C financing after offering $62 million in shares last July to investors.  The $24.7 million represented the first closing in the Series C round, and included existing investors Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, TPG Biotech and Votorantim Novos Negocios.

Amyris was ranked #3 in the 2008-09 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy.

The company had previously raised $70 million in its Series B round in September 2007 from investors including DAG Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and TPG Ventures, and a total of $120 million, according to Amyris spokeswoman Annika Jensen.

Cleantech Group is reporting that LS9, another biofuels early-stage company targeting renewable diesel fuel and chemicals, “has a Series C round currently open, where it is looking to add $10 million to the undisclosed amount raised so far and is contemplating a follow-on.” LS9 said that it would not reach commercial production levels until 2013.

Renewable (green) diesel

Last month, LS9 announced that its UltraClean Diesel product exceeds American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D6751 and Brazilian National Agency of Petroleum ANP-7 specifications. According to third-party testing, LS9 UltraClean Diesel provides an 85% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions when compared to conventional fuel production, contains no carcinogens such as benzene, and trace amounts of sulfur. LS9 has engineered a one-step fermentation process that uses patent-pending DesignerMicrobes to efficiently convert renewable plant-based materials into a portfolio of UltraClean fuels. LS9’s proprietary one-step fermentation process is capable of producing chemicals used in making industrial and consumer products.

LS9 announced a  partnership in May with Procter and Gamble.  In adopting LS9’s technology, P&G will employ one of the cleanest and most efficient technologies available to produce chemicals for consumer products.

LS9’s technology converts renewable materials into high-value, low-carbon, cost effective fuels and chemicals. The multi-year collaboration will help develop the LS9 technology platform. This platform can produce a broad portfolio of chemicals used in production of key consumer chemicals within the P&G family of products, including sustainable chemicals and renewable transportation fuels.

LS9 described P&G as “an ideal partner,” that will  join LS9 technology with P&G market reach to accelerate the delivery of sustainable, low-carbon, high-value   chemical products into the world market. P&G said that the partnership signifies the company’s commitment to its sustainability goals.

LS9 applies synthetic biology to produce proprietary drop-in biofuels, including renewable diesel and high-value industrial chemicals.  The company was founded in 2005 and venture capital firms Flagship Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners have provided funding to date.

Also in July, the Renewable Energy Institute International said that it will partner with Kenworth Truck maker PACCAR and Caterpillar in a $5 million investment to convert rice straw and other crop residues to green diesel and renewable power. The investment, in addition to $12 million from private investors including Midwest Terminals, and $6 million in federal and state assistance, will result in a demonstration scale project at the Port of Toledo that will produce 350,000 gallons of green diesel per year.

REII said that if the demonstration is successful, it will build a commercial-scale plan commencing as soon as 2011 in Gridley, California.

In June, Amyris Biotechnologies announced the opening of a 2.4 Mgy demonstration-scale facility in Campinas, Brazil that will execute scale-up, demonstration and optimization of Amyris fuels and chemicals manufacturing processes.

The Amyris Renewable Products Demonstration Facility includes both pilot plant and demonstration scale operations, and complements the pilot plants that Amyris opened in Emeryville, Calif. in 2008 and in Campinas earlier this year. Amyris now has fully integrated capabilities to move technology from lab to pilot to demonstration and finally to commercial scale, with tested continuity of results throughout the chain. The new demonstration equipment allows for final validation of commercial equipment design and manufacturing processes, and produces 10,000 gallons of renewable fuels and chemicals under “full-scale conditions”.

Amyris is headed for commercialization in 2011 at through the purchase of one, or possibly, two ethanol plants, according to Amyris officials. The company will then expand commencing in 2012 to a new model, where sugar mill owners can add Amyris technology to their processes for value-added operations.

In the new “capital light” model, Amyris will partner with a mill and provide its technology through an off take agreement – not a licensing agreement. Amyris Brasil will provide mill owners with yeast strains, production processes and engineering design to produce Amyris products. The mill owner will provide capital to convert mill to produce Amyris products. Amyris Brasil will, then purchase Amyris products from mill owners at contracted price and distribute product directly to customers.

Amyris’s initial products include a drop-in renewable diesel fuel with performance properties that equal or exceed those of petroleum-sourced fuels and currently available biofuels. Amyris expects to produce renewable chemicals for a variety of consumer products and industrial applications currently dependent on petrochemical components.

Amyris applies its synthetic biology technology to convert sugar cane into a range of high value renewable fuels and chemicals. Amyris applies synthetic biology to alter the metabolic pathways of microorganisms to engineer “living factories” that transform sugar into any one of 50,000 different molecules used in a wide variety of energy, pharmaceutical and chemical applications.

The company’s renewable diesel fuel was registered with the EPA earlier this year.

Last December, Virent Energy Systems was named a Technology Pioneer 2009 by the World Economic Forum. Last year, LS9 was a recipient of the award, which was given to 34 companies in 15 countires. Virent was the only biofuel-related company so honored. The company was honored for its BioForming technology that converts renewable biomass into hydrocarbons that act as direct substitutes for gasoline, diesel, kerosene (jet fuel). The World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which commences January 28th, will honor the recipients.

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