Google Ventures announced today that it has made an undisclosed Series B investment in CoolPlanetBiofuels. The Camarillo, Calif.-based company previously raised $8 million in a round led by North Bridge Venture Partners with participation from GE Energy Financial Services. CoolPlanetBioFuels is developing a technology that converts low-grade biomass into high-grade fuel and carbon.
PRESS RELEASE
CoolPlanetBiofuels Gets Series B Funding from Google Ventures
Imagine a world where fuel doesn’t have to be pumped, dug out or extracted from the ground, and can be locally sourced. CoolPlanetBiofuels, located in Camarillo, Calif., is developing an innovative solution to address the energy problem and has received funding from Google Ventures to accelerate the development of its technology.
CoolPlanetBiofuel’s technology converts low-grade biomass — such as grass and woodchips — into high-grade fuel. This process also produces a biproduct, which can be used to sequester carbon and act as a soil conditioner. This makes the CoolPlanetBioFuels product a negative carbon fuel.
“The company has come up with an innovative solution to one of the world’s biggest problems,” said Wesley Chan, partner at Google Ventures. “The technology is a win-win as the company is developing a sustainable and renewable energy source that also helps reduce the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.”
The company’s approach toward converting biomass to high-quality fuel will accelerate the development and deployment of biofuels. Also, CoolPlanetBiofuels’ feedstock is available and plentiful, and has no impact on the food supply. The recent run up in gasoline prices underscores the importance of developing an alternative to fossil fuels. CoolPlanet operates at an interesting intersection of technical problem and business innovation attacking a large problem. That nexus is of particular interest to Google Ventures.
“We are very pleased to complete this financing with a high-caliber partner known for its tremendous support in helping companies grow,” said Mike Cheiky, CoolPlanetBiofuels President and Chief Executive Officer. “While we have made significant progress over the past couple of years, this new infusion of capital, coupled with the expertise of the Google Ventures team, enables our team to scale even faster.”
About CoolPlanetBioFuels
CoolPlanetBioFuels, based in Camarillo, California, is developing a revolutionary thermal/mechanical processor that directly inputs raw biomass such as woodchips, crop residues and non-food fuel crops, and produces distinct gas streams for catalytic upgrading to conventional hydrocarbon fuel. The company is also developing simple one- step catalytic conversion processes that mate with the processor’s output gas streams to produce useful products such as eBTX (gasoline), synthetic diesel and proprietary ultra- high-yield super fuels. For more information on CoolPlanet, visit www.coolplanetbiofuels.com.
About Google Ventures
Google Ventures seeks to discover and help develop great companies – we believe in the power of entrepreneurs to do amazing things. Our investments range from seed to late stage, across a broad range of industries, including consumer Internet, software, hardware, cleantech, biotechnology and health care. We embrace the challenge of helping young companies grow from the proverbial garage to global relevance. The Google Ventures team includes entrepreneurs, investors and innovators, along with some 24,000+ exceptional Googlers whose
breadth of knowledge, experience and creativity constitute perhaps our most valuable resource. For more information, visit www.google.com/ventures.
