Solazyme

Awards: #1, 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy, 2009-10; #6, 50 Hottest Companies in Bioenergy, 2008-09; Top 30 Transformative Technologies 2010

Description: Solazyme, Inc. is a renewable oil production company and the leader in algal synthetic biology. Solazyme’s unique microbial conversion technology process allows algae to produce oil in standard industrial facilities quickly, efficiently and at large scale. These oils are tailored not only for advanced biofuel production, but also as replacements for fossil petroleum and plant oils in a diverse range of products running from green household cleaning supplies to cosmetics and foods. The company was founded in 2003 and has its headquarters in South San Francisco, California.

Key Execs:
CEO, Jonathan Wolfson – Profile
President & CTO, Harrison Dillon – Profile

LinkedIn: Company page

Key Investors: $127M+ from Braemar Energy Ventures, Bluecrest Capital Finance, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Harris & Harris Group, The Roda Group, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Chevron Technology Ventures, Keating Capital, Jerry Fiedler, Morgan Stanley, Zygote Ventures, San-Ei Gen.

Latest from the Web

[google-news name="Solazyme"]

Business:

Solazyme, which was ranked #6 in the Hottest 50 Companies in Bioenergy for 2008-09 said that it will be developing markets in the high-end cosmaceutical and pharmaceutical sectors as well as continuing to make progress towards making biodiesel and jet fuel at commercially viable costs. The company utilizes a unique “grow in the dark” algae cultivation strategy, in which the algae is fed plant waste cellulosic and other cellulosic materials that contain sugars – the food is used in lieu of sunlight and CO2 to provide energy that algae convert into lipids.

Model:

Owner-operator

Past milestones:

1. Closed a $57 million third round of funding. Funds were invested by Braemar Energy Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, VantagePoint, Roda Group, Harris & Harris and Solazyme chairman Jerry Fiddler.

2. The California Energy Commission’s Public Interest Energy Research program awarded a $789,697 Biosynthetic Transportation Fuel Production grant that will support the company’s R&D efforts. The award takes nearly half of the $1.65 million program funding that PIER recently announced.

3. Selected by the U.S. Department of Defense to research, develop, and demonstrate commercial scale production of algae-derived F-76 Naval Distillate fuel for testing and fuel certification to demonstrate it meets all military specifications and functional requirements. The contract includes both R&D and fuel delivery components and calls for delivery of over 20,000 gallons of Soladiesel F-76 fuel to the Navy for compatibility testing over the next year.  F-76 Naval Distillate is similar to diesel fuel and is the primary shipboard fuel used by the Navy. This program will lead to the eventual certification of Soladiesel F-76 Naval distillate for commercial sale to the U.S. Military.

Future milestones:

1.  CTO and co-founder Harrison Dillon said that the company would be at parity with $80 oil by 2012/13.

2. CEO Jonathan Wolfson said that he expected the company to be at 100 Mgy in production at that time.

Metrics:

Life Cycle Associates, the same consultant that performed lifecycle greenhouse gas calculations for the California Air Resources Board, completed a field-to-wheels assessment of Soladiesel, the company’s algae-based biodiesel using the Argonne National Laboratories GREET model. LCA found that Soladiesel’s full lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are 85 to 93 percent lower than standard petroleum based ultra-low sulfur diesel (ULSD). Additional testing by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that Soladiesel also generates a 30 percent reduction in particulates, a nearly 20 percent reduction in carbon monoxide and and a nearly 10 percent reduction in THC.

Rate the Company