Mascoma Corporation (www.mascoma.com), a developer of cellulosic biomass-to-ethanol production technology, raised $30 million in its second round of venture funding. The financing was led by General Catalyst Partners, with additional participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Vantage Point Venture Partners, Atlas Venture, and Pinnacle Ventures, as well as existing investors Khosla Ventures and Flagship Ventures. The company will use the new funds to continue to develop production technologies and processes to make fuel ethanol from cellulose (e.g. grass, wood, and agricultural and forestry wastes).
Today ethanol in the United State is made primarily from corn. Ethanol made from cellulosic biomass takes advantage of significantly lower raw material cost, more plentiful and varied feedstocks, and expands the potential for ethanol to blend with and displace gasoline with a cleaner, renewable, domestically-produced liquid fuel, according to Mascoma.
Specifically, this latest round of funding will enable Mascoma to conduct further research, develop and construct new demonstration facilities, as well
as design commercial facilities for additional buildout.
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