Sapphire Energy, a company that makes crude oil from algae, doubled its investment funding to more than $100 million.
The San-Diego based company uses sunlight, carbon dioxide and algae to produce 91-octane gasoline that is compatible with the current energy infrastructure from cars to refineries and pipelines.
The company received about $50 million in funding in June to continue development of its fuel, which is not biodiesel or ethanol.
According to reports, new investors in this latest round include Cascade Investment, LLC, an investment company owned by Microsoft founder Bill Gates.
The company aims to produce commercial amounts of its fuel in three to five years at a cost of $50 to $80 a barrel.
Because the fuel is made from carbon dioxide captured from burning other fuel sources, it adds no new CO2 to the atmosphere. Therefore it is considered "carbon neutral."
About Sapphire Energy
Sapphire Energy was founded to address the overwhelming inadequacies of current biofuel approaches and the profound costs of American dependence on foreign oil. The company has built a platform using sunlight, CO2 and microorganisms such as algae to produce renewable, 91 octane gasoline that meets ASTM standards; it is not ethanol and not biodiesel.
Sapphire is led by an interdisciplinary team of entrepreneurs and experts in cell biology, plant genomics and algal production, as well as investors with long histories of taking innovative technology to market, including co-founder ARCH Venture Partners, along with the Wellcome Trust and Venrock. Sapphire’s scientific supporters include Scripps Research Institute; University of California, San Diego; the University of Tulsa, and the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Project. The company is located in San Diego.
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