Biofuel developer Virdia Inc. (formerly HCL Cleantech Ltd.) has raised $30 million and obtained a $75 million loan from the Mississippi Development Authority to build factories in the state. The company also replaced CEO Eran Baniel with Philippe Lavielle. Baniel will continue as VP business development.
Virdia has developed the CASE process, which converts cellulosic biomass to high quality fermentable sugars and lignin, using patented and patent-pending technologies that are based on research conducted in Germany in 19th century. Prof. Arie Eyal, Prof. Avraham Baniel, and his son, Eran, founded the company in 2007.
As HCL CleanTech, the company previously raised $6 million from private investors, Zohar Gilon's Tamar Technology Investors (Israel) LP, Burrill & Co., and Khosla Ventures. The current financing round includes $20 million from these investors, and $10 million from Triple Point Capital. The company will use the proceeds to finance its pilots and engineering plans.
From the Mississippi Development Authority, Virdia received an incentives package with $75 million in low-interest loans, as well as up to $155 million in various tax incentives over a 10-year period. Virdia’s cellulosic sugar plants are expected to create hundreds of new jobs over this period.
Virdia will begin production of cellulosic sugar for biofuels and other chemicals at the Mississippi plants in 2014. They will among the few plants in the US that will produce biofuel from organic waste, mostly wood.
Headquartered in California, the company has an R&D center in Herzliya.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 7, 2012
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