21st Century Regenerative Technology

1. Sopogy Scores $9M Funding from Omidyar, Hawaiian Investors
2. Sapphire Squeezes High Octane Gas from Algae

Sopogy Scores $9M Funding from Omidyar, Hawaiian Investors

2008-05-29 15:44

Katie Fehrenbacher - Startups

The small-scale solar thermal startup Sopogy that we reported was in the process of raising a $9 million round last October, has closed that round from investors including the investment vehicle of eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, Ohana Holdings. The folks at New Energy Finance reported the news, and after digging through regulatory filings, Nathaniel Bullard, senior analyst at New Energy Finance reported that the $9.1 million round also included local investors Bethel Tech Holdings, Energy Industries Holdings, Kolohala Holdings, Black River Asset Management and Hawaiian video game entrepreneur Henk Rogers.

Well, Google and former dotcom entrepreneur Bill Gross have been busy investing in solar thermal power plants, so why not eBay’s founder? (Perhaps we should add him to our list of 25 Who Ditched Infotech for Cleantech). And former eBay President Jeff Skoll has invested in thin-film solar startup Nanosolar. New Energy Finance notes that Omidyar’s Ohana Holdings has actively been investing in Hawaii as of late, and Bullard tells us that Ohana also previously invested in biodiesel company US BioDiesel Group.

Sopogy has strong roots in the state. Most of its investors are local, and in May Sopogy said the state legislature had approved up to $35 million in special purpose revenue bonds for Sopogy to build and operate a solar plant locally. As of October Sopogy CEO Darren Kimura told us the company is working on getting a 1-megawatt solar system up and running. Kimura also said that Hawaii's "highest electricity rates in the U.S." give its technologies "a competitive marketplace to develop and mature."

The Honolulu-based five-year-old company Sopogy makes small scale solar thermal systems, which are condensed versions of the set-ups that use mirrors and lenses to heat liquid and turn that into power. Ausra, BrightSource, Solel and eSolar are just a few of the startups that have emerged to building large-scale systems on a lot of land and plan that power to utilities.

Sopogy, on the other hand, says its technology can be used where space is limited, even on rooftops, and delivers on a scale in the single megawatts. Each individual collector can produce 500 watts, and the collectors can be strung together for more wattage.

Kimura told VentureBeat last week that Sopogy has gotten enough interest that the company is eying an IPO in the not-too-distant future.

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Sapphire Squeezes High Octane Gas from Algae

2008-05-29 14:24

Craig Rubens - Startups

San Diego-based startup Sapphire Energy said yesterday that it has squeezed ASTM-certifiable 91 octane gasoline — the premium stuff at the pump — from algae. That is to say, high-octane gasoline from pond scum. Founded a year ago this month, Sapphire has already raised $50 million in venture capital from ARCH Venture Partners, the Wellcome Trust and Venrock.

But even with a press-release-fodder laboratory announcement and a pile of venture money, Sapphire tells Forbes its first facility won’t be operational for another three years. Still, the startup calls itself a leader in a new industry category is has titled “green crude production” (don’t worry they’ve already got the URL for it) and aims to produce 10,000 barrels (420,000 gallons) a day at its first facilitiy.

The idea is that by combining photosynthetic microorganisms, sun, CO2, and water through proprietary processes we can continue to get our greasy oil fix, but now off of algae. And Sapphire says it has a solution that can scale.

Sapphire isn’t alone in creating biocrudes. Emeryville, Calif.-based Amyris Biotechnologies recently partnered with Brazilian ethanol distributor Crystalev to develop jet fuel, gasoline and diesel fuel from sugar cane and has $90 million in funding from Kleiner, DAG Ventures, Khosla Ventures and TPG Ventures. Meanwhile, LS9, headquartered in South San Francisco, has raised $20 million from Khosla Ventures, Flagship Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners for its work to use synthetic biology to create “renewable petroleum.”

Renewable petroleum products act just like their petrochemical counterparts, meaning there’s no need for infrastructure or consumer-side retrofits. It is a promising approach to replacing oil. Sapphire’s got not a small amount of competition in the algal arena and the several well-funded competitors in the synthetic petroleum field. Still, there’s more than enough space in the market for multiple players thanks to the Energy Bill’s jacked-up biofuel mandates on transportation fuels.

Images courtesy of Sapphire Energy.