Manta Biofuel Raises $150k in Equity Funding

manta-biofuelManta Biofuel, a Reisterstown, MD-based company that produces crude oil from algae, raised $150k in equity funding.

The Chesapeake Bay Seed Capital Fund made the investment.

The company intends to use the funds to develop the prototype of its portable, solar-powered, floating algae harvester, which autonomously navigates through waters and collects algae.

Manta Biofuel manufactures renewable and carbon-neutral crude oil that is largely equivalent to the fossil based crude oil via a proprietary technique for harvesting algae. Once collected, the algal biomass is converted into crude oil by subjecting it to high temperature and pressure in a process called hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL). The company, which licensed its harvesting technology from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, where company co-founder Ryan Powell invented it, recently established a large pilot production facility in Thurmont, Md.

Manta has also received more than $530,000 in total funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPS) program, Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Invest Maryland Challenge, TEDCO Technology Validation Program (TVP) and the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technologies REEF program.

FinSMEs

18/10/2015

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