NexSteppe: Biofuels Digest’s 2014 5-Minute Guide

NexSteppe is dedicated to pioneering the next generation of scalable, reliable, cost-effective feedstock solutions for the biofuels, biopower and biobased products industries. Using advanced breeding techniques and cutting-edge analytical technologies, NexSteppe is developing Malibu sweet sorghum and Palo Alto high biomass sorghum to produce feedstocks tailored for these biobased industries.

Named for the city where the company was founded, NexSteppe’s Malibu sweet sorghum hybrids have been optimized to provide an easily accessible source of fermentable sugars for the production of biobased fuels, chemicals and products. Our Palo Alto high biomass sorghum hybrids provide a high-yield, low-moisture, cost-effective feedstock for biopower, including biogas, and cellulosic biofuels. NexSteppe is also refining crop management practices and supply chain operations to provide optimized, fully-integrated feedstock solutions.
Through the development and commercialization of these tailored crops and integrated feedstock solutions, NexSteppe is laying a foundation for a sustainable and secure future for our economy, our environment, and our energy supply.

Biofuels Digest Awards

Finalist, 2014 Transformative Technologies, ““Transformation of a grain or grass”

The Situation

NexSteppe announced the launch of its first sorghum hybrid products in the U.S. and in Brazil. NexSteppe’s new Malibu sweet sorghum hybrids and Palo Alto high biomass sorghum hybrids offer a tailored alternative for companies seeking a cost-effective feedstock solution for the production of advanced and cellulosic biofuels, biopower and biobased products.

Named for the city where the company was founded, NexSteppe’s Malibu sweet sorghum hybrids have been optimized to provide an easily accessible source of fermentable sugars for the production of advanced biofuels and biobased products. Malibu sweet sorghums can be used as a complement to sugarcane to provide additional feedstock for existing sugar-to-ethanol mills. Because of their lower water requirements, Malibu sweet sorghums can also provide a fermentable sugar feedstock in areas where sugarcane does not perform well.

The company’s first generation of Malibu sweet sorghum hybrids is designed to provide a wide range of maturities to meet varying customer harvest-window profiles. Several of these hybrids were also selected for their yield performance in tropical short day-length environments to help enable year-round production.

Standing at 20 feet tall after only four months of growth, NexSteppe’s Palo Alto high biomass sorghum hybrids provide a high-yielding, low-cost biomass feedstock for biopower, including biogas, and cellulosic biofuels. Designed to have low moisture levels at maturity, Palo Alto high biomass sorghums significantly lessen the amount of water harvested, thereby reducing the harvest and transport costs that can be 50 percent or more of total delivered feedstock cost. Lower moisture levels also provide a higher effective energy density for combustion.

Investors
Braemar Energy Ventures
DuPont
CYM Ventures
Zygote Ventures

Top Past Milestones

Founded company; assembled industry-leading team and germplasm collection; initiated operations in U.S. and Brazil

In 2011, NexSteppe raised $14 million in Series B Funding.  The new round of funding was led by Braemar Energy Ventures, and as a result, Dennis Costello, Partner at Braemar, has joined the company’s Board of Directors. NexSteppe will use the proceeds from the round to scale up its sweet sorghum, high biomass sorghum and switchgrass breeding programs, and to advance its first products toward commercialization

Signed strategic partnership with DuPont. The collaboration will focus on the development of new sweet sorghum and high biomass sorghum hybrids which will create additional feedstock options for these rapidly evolving industries.

Major Milestone Goals for 2014‐16

Deployment of Malibu sweet sorghum hybrids and Palo Alto high biomass sorghum hybrids

Business Model
Seller of seed and provider of project development services.

Competitive Edge

• Broadly-adapted, high yield feedstocks
• Scalable, reliable, compositionally optimized, economically competitive, fermentable sugars, for advanced biofuels and biobased products,biomass for biopower and cellulosic biofuels.
• Purpose-built company focused solely on the optimization of sugar and biomass crops that will serve as feedstocks for biofuels, biopower and biobased products.

Research, or Manufacturing Partnerships or Alliances

DuPont has made an equity investment in NexSteppe, and through its Pioneer Hi-Bred business, will provide knowledge, resources and advanced technologies to help the company accelerate the breeding and commercialization of new hybrids of these crops in the United States and Brazil.

Website.