Cobalt Biofuels gets $25M for biobutanol
Usually when a startup classifies itself as a biofuel company, it makes one of two fuels: biodiesel or ethanol. However, there’s a range of alternatives that could be commercialized, one of which Cobalt Biofuels is after: biobutanol, a liquid fuel that is more similar to gasoline than ethanol.
Cobalt has just taken a third venture round of $25 million to put further work into the fuel, which it plans to use as an additive for either standard diesel or gasoline. Butanol is also useful in the chemical industry, and is made, at least with Cobalt’s processes, from non-food feedstocks.
The round was led by LSP and Pinnacle Ventures. Also participating were Vantage Point Venture Partners, The Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, @Ventures and Harris and Harris. Cobalt is based in Mountain View, Calif.
Next Story: Energy and carbon measurement startup AMEE raises $1M
Previous Story: PageOnce brings your online accounts to your smartphone
About the Author, Chris Morrison
Chris Morrison writes about cleantech and environmental issues for VentureBeat, with occasional forays into gaming and semantic technology. He got his start writing about tech for Business 2.0 magazine, but quickly realized new media was the ticket when that institution closed its doors in 2007. Chris has also covered public equities and regulatory issues. He originally hails from southern Virginia, graduated from Evergreen State College in Washington, and now lives in San Francisco.