Cobalt closes $20m Series D funding round

In California, US, Cobalt Technologies, dedicated to the commercialisation of biobutanol as a renewable chemical and fuel, has closed a $20 million (€13.7 million) Series D round of funding.

The financing will aid Cobalt in constructing its 470,000 gallon-a-year demonstration plant in Alpena, Michigan. The facility will be the world's first cellulosic biorefinery for the production of the industrial chemical n-butanol.

'This round validates the significant progress we have made in commercialising cellulosic biobutanol and demonstrates the real market opportunity that our investors see,' says Rick Wilson, Cobalt Technologies' CEO.

The round was led by The Whittemore Collection, the investment arm of Parsons & Whittemore, previously one of the world's largest manufacturers of market pulp and builder of some 60 pulp mills in 28 countries.

'In addition to the generous financial support provided by the Whittemore Collection, we now have the world's most experienced builder of biomass-based businesses on our board supporting us in developing our global enterprise,' Wilson continues.

Cobalt's current venture investors, including Pinnacle Ventures, Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, VantagePoint Capital Partners, Life Sciences Partners, @Ventures, Harris & Harris and Burrill and Company also participated.

'We were attracted to Cobalt because the technology delivers a dramatic cost advantage relative to petroleum-based chemicals and the company has a solid plan for scale-up and deployment with a great team,' George Landegger, Chairman of Parsons & Whittemore, says. 'Strategically, we believe the best economic use of biomass besides producing pulp is for use in high-value renewable chemicals such n-butanol, where Cobalt in the emerging leader.'

Cobalt Technologies' process is one that converts non-food feedstocks such as sugarcane bagasse, woody biomass, palm waste and glycerol from the production of biodiesel into renewable biobutanol.