Joule closes $30 million funding round; changes name; "secret sauce" is modified cyanobacteria?
In Massachusetts, Joule Biotechnologies announced the closing of a $30 million funding round, and a name change to Joule Unlimited intended to reflect its focus on the “widespread replacement of fossil fuels…while also reflecting the virtually unlimited potential of our transformative process,” according to CEO Bill Sims.
Flagship Ventures Managing Director David Berry, on the sidelines at the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference, did not disclose the identity of the company’s strategic investors but confirmed that Flagship intends to remain the sole venture capital firm invested in the company and its technology.
The funding will, according to a company statement, “help to accelerate Joule’s advancements in a number of areas, including its pilot operations now underway in Leander, Texas, where the production process for its renewable solar fuels, including fungible diesel, will be tested. The funds will also support key developments in genome engineering, bioprocessing and hardware engineering to optimize productivity and generate product samples in quantities that will fully validate Joule’s process beyond the lab.”
The company has not yet disclosed the basis for its solar converter technology that “produces hydrocarbon fuels above ground in a direct, single-step, continuous process,” but Digest sources have consistently identified the microorganism as a genetically modified cyanobacteria.
More Coverage on this Topic
Category: Producer News
FREE Subscription
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive the Biofuels Digest email newsletter - the world's most widely read biofuels daily.
Comments (0)
Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed
There are no comments yet. Why not be the first to speak your mind.