Solazyme Raises Additional $45M for Algae-Based Diesel

Algae biofuel company Solazyme has raised $45.4 million dollars in
Series C funding, and the company expects to be producing millions of
gallons of biodiesel a year by the end of 2011, according to reports.

Funding reportedly comes from previous investors Roda Group and Harris
& Harris Group, as well as new investors Braemar Energy Ventures
and Lightspeed Venture Partners.

Solazyme CEO Jonathan Wolfson told CNet
the company will break ground on a commercial-scale plant within two
years. The company’s proprietary technology involved custom-designed
strains of algae that produce oil from sugar without sunlight. 

In July, the San Francisco-based company annonced that its renewable diesel fuel was the first alga-based fuel to pass American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) D-975 specifications.