SG Biofuels, Inc., a San Diego, CA-based bioenergy crop company, completed a $17m Series B financing.
The round was led by Thomas, McNerney & Partners, with participation from Finistere Ventures and existing investors Flint Hills Resources and Life Technologies Corporation.
The company plans to use the capital to to expand research and development, advance commercialization efforts and scale global operations.
In conjunction with the funding, Pratik Shah, Ph.D., partner at Thomas, McNerney, and Jerry Caulder, Ph.D., managing director for Finistere Ventures, have joined the company’s board of directors.
Led by President & Chief Executive Officer Kirk Haney, SG Biofuels is developing elite hybrid seeds of Jatropha as a low-cost feedstock for biodiesel, bio jet fuel and specialty chemicals.
Jatropha is a subtropical, non-edible energy crop that that can be grown on marginal lands considered undesirable for food crops.
The company is using molecular breeding and biotechnology to improve yields and reduce input costs, and has developed proprietary hybrid seed production technology enabling large-scale deployments of higher yielding and uniform planting material adapted to different growing conditions around the world.
SGB has signed agreements with Bharat Renewable Energy Limited (BREL), a joint-venture of Bharat Petroleum, an India-based large petroleum company, and JETBIO, leader of amulti-stakeholder initiative including Airbus, the Inter-American Development Bank, and TAM Airlines, to deploy Jatropha in Brazil for the production of bio jet fuel.
The company is currently hiring (http://www.sgfuel.com/pages/additional/careers.php)
FinSMEs
17/01/2012