SG Biofuels, Inc., a San Diego, CA-based bioenergy crop company developing and producing elite seeds of Jatropha, has completed a $9.4m Series A financing.
Investors include Flint Hills Resources, a privately held company based in Kansas, Life Technologies Corporation, a biotechnology tools company based in Carlsbad, Calif., and existing investors.
The financing will support the company’s efforts to advance Jatropha as a high-yielding, low cost feedstock for diesel, jet fuel and petrochemicals. Jatropha curcas is a non-edible shrub that is native to Central America. Its seeds contain high amounts of oil that can be used for a variety of bio-based materials and feedstock substitutes. It can be effectively grown on marginal lands that are considered undesirable for food crops.
In conjunction with the funding, Anthony Sementelli, CEO of Flint Hills Resources, and Nathan Wood, vice president of Life Technologies’ Genomics Technologies business segment, have joined the company’s board of directors.
Earlier this year, SG Biofuels and Life Technologies recently announced they have completed the sequence of the Jatropha genome.
FinSMEs
14/09/2010