EMERYVILLE, Calif., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Amyris Biotechnologies, an innovator in the development of renewable hydrocarbon biofuels, today announced that it closed the first tranche of its $70 million Series B funding. Duff Ackerman & Goodrich Ventures (DAG Ventures) led the financing and was joined by existing Series A investors, including Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, and TPG Ventures. The Series B funding will be used to further the development and scale up of its technology for the production of three transportation biofuels: bio-gasoline, bio-diesel, and bio-jet, and to support business initiatives to enable Amyris to bring its biofuels to market as early as 2010.
"Amyris has not only a break-through technology but a clearly defined strategy to commercialize a promising slate of next-generation biofuels that could have a profound impact on the transportation market," said R. Thomas Goodrich at DAG Ventures. "We are investing with strong confidence in what Amyris is creating as well as the management and scientific team the company is putting in place to execute on its vision."
"No-compromise transportation fuels derived from renewable sources hold substantial promise for meeting the tremendous need for alternative energy sources in the future," said John Melo, CEO of Amyris. "We have already succeeded in creating these biofuels in our lab. We are delighted with the strong interest in our Series B funding which will enable us to continue the research and scale-up of our technology and to implement our business model as the first biofuels company to go from production to customer."
Amyris pioneered a unique technology platform that allows it to use a variety of environmentally-friendly renewable feedstocks including sugarcane, corn and cellulose, to produce high-value compounds. This technology has been proven in Amyris' earlier non-profit project, funded through a grant to the Institute for One World Health from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to reduce the production cost of artemisinin-based anti-malarial drugs. Using the same technology platform, Amyris is now developing capabilities to produce a slate of high-performing hydrocarbon transportation biofuels that are environmentally friendly, cost- effective, and compatible with current engines and distribution infrastructure.
"Amyris is designing better biofuels from designer bugs," said John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "This is a big deal because Amyris' cost competitive biofuels will work with existing engines without compromising performance and will have a lower carbon footprint. This financing will help Amyris scale with speed."
Amyris expects to close the second tranche of its Series B financing by the end of 2007.
About Amyris Biotechnologies
Amyris Biotechnologies (www.amyrisbiotech.com) is applying its proprietary, breakthrough technology to address major global health and energy challenges. Amyris' technology is used to produce high-value compounds to enable the production of lower cost artemisinin-based anti-malarial drugs and a slate of renewable hydrocarbon biofuels which are expected to be cost-effective and compatible with existing engines and distribution infrastructure. Based in Emeryville, CA, Amyris is a privately-held venture backed company whose investors include DAG Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and TPG Ventures.
Amyris BiotechnologiesCONTACT: Ray Yeung of Brainerd Communicators for Amyris Biotechnologies,+1-212-986-6667 or yeung@braincomm.com
Web site: http://www.amyrisbiotech.com/
