Khosla Ventures and BIOeCON Form KiOR Inc.
01/11/2007 12:23
PR Newswire
MENLO PARK, California and HOEVELAKEN, The Netherlands, November 1 /PRNewswire/ --
- Technology Development for the Conversion of Biomass to Bio-Oil
Khosla Ventures and BIOeCON announce today the formation of
their joint venture KiOR Inc. Khosla Ventures, will provide the Series A
funding, whereas BIOeCON will bring its knowledge and intellectual property
for the 'Biomass Catalytic Cracking Process' (BCC). KiOR Inc. will focus on
the further development and commercialisation of the BCC technology as well
as prepare for raising significantly more capital in the next two to three
years.
BCC technology converts lignocellulosic biomass, found in
grass, wood, and various agricultural and forestry wastes, into a bio-oil
product that can be further upgraded to transportation fuels. The conversion
of cellulosic biomass to bio-oil represents a significant commercial
opportunity that also offers important benefits, including using
post-harvesting waste rather than competing with food crops; promoting
environmental sustainability; reducing reliance on fossil fuels such as crude
oil; and enabling economic development and job creation in rural areas.
"The key technical problem in the conversion of cellulosic
biomass into usable fuels is how to open up the inaccessible solid fibrous
'woody' material, so that it can be effectively transformed. Most of the
existing processes to unlock the woody structures are quite costly and
intensive of energy or chemicals," says Paul O'Connor, founder and president
of BIOeCON. "BIOeCON has developed a simple non-energy intensive way to make
the woody biomass accessible to catalysts and convert to a bio-oil product
with significantly improved product properties compared to other
thermal-chemical processes.
Doug Cameron, Khosla Ventures' Chief Scientific Advisor:
"BIOeCON has a strong R? network and solid scientific fundamentals. We have
done a thorough evaluation of the technology and research programs and
believe this can be a breakthrough technology."
"Securing funding from a strategic and visionary venture
capital company like Khosla Ventures is a major step forward", says Rob van
der Meij, CEO of KiOR Inc." Khosla's experience and expertise in technology
start ups is unmatched in the industry and we are looking forward to the
acceleration that Khosla Ventures no doubt will bring."
KiOR's concept and approach is unique and has the potential to
become a large scale, widely applied technology, that can improve energy
availability and sustainability to both the developed and developing world.
The BCC technology unlocks the energy of vast amounts of biomass waste and
converts it into a high valued energy product. This will not only reduce net
carbon dioxide emission, but can also improve the energy independence of many
countries.
About BIOeCON
BIOeCON was founded in 2006 by Paul O'Connor with the aim to
develop new, large scale technology to convert biomass, particularly the
recalcitrant polymeric biomass residue, in a more efficient and
cost-effective way to valuable molecules which can be utilized by the
chemical and energy industry. BIOeCON is a privately funded company, which
operates through an international network of top-scientists and institutions
to bring together know-how, expertise and experience from heterogeneous
catalysis, biomass processing, process development and technology
commercialisation. BIOeCON is based in Hoevelaken, the Netherlands.
http://www.bio-e-con.com
About Khosla Ventures
Khosla Ventures offers venture assistance, strategic advice
and capital to entrepreneurs. The firm helps entrepreneurs extend the
potential of the Internet to new markets such as mobile and supports
breakthrough scientific work such as bio refineries. Vinod Khosla founded the
firm in 2004 and was joined in 2006 by two partners. The partners have been
involved in founding or growing billion dollar businesses such as Sun
Microsystems, Juniper Networks and AOL. Vinod has been labelled the #1 VC
multiple times by Forbes and Fortune recently labelled him as one of the
nation's most influential ethanol advocates, noting "there are venture
capitalists, and then there's Vinod Khosla." The firm's capital comes
entirely from its own partners and a portion of all profits are donated to
charitable causes, with an emphasis on micro-finance, education, the
environment and affordable housing. Khosla Ventures is based in Menlo Park,
California, USA.
http://www.khoslaventures.com
Media Contact: Rob van der Meij, Email: rob.vandermeij@bio-e-con.com, Telephone: +31-646-252-145