Solazyme seems to be on a bit of roll. This maker of bio-engineered algae stocks recently signed a production and distribution agreement with Imperium Renewables, the leading biofuel company on the US West Coast. (A previous post on Imperium is here.) Solazyme will use their proprietary algae strains to produce feedstock oil for Imperium, who will then convert it to biodiesel.
The agreement comes on the heels of the company's recent completion of Series B funding. The Roda Group and Harris &Harris Group are lead investors.
I suspect that that Solazyme will not have too much trouble raising additional capital in the near future. The company can lure potential funders with a line baited with a business model that is positively redolent with investors' current favorite flavors: biotechnology and alternative energy.
Frankly, it's great to see a company that combines the potential of algae-based bio-fuels with an apparent keen business sense. Other players in this area have suspect business plans or questionable histories.
Is there a lot of work left to do before biodiesel derived from algae is commercially viable? Without question. (See great post on R-Squared Energy blog for algae-to-biofuel hurdles.) However, with it's growing investor population, strategic partnerships, and varied product line (i.e. not wholly focused on energy), Solazyme stands to be able to weather any future storms.
Friday, June 8, 2007
Solazyme: Small Product, Big Business
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2 comments:
The algae-to-oil rage has been going for a couple of years now, but it is interesting to see that Solazyme was founded in 2003- a veritable old-timer. Perhaps the company has figured a few things out that the newcomers have not.
Unlike a bunch of the other companies that are trying to be players in the space, the company has some serious talent and experience on the management team. These people are for real - http://www.solazyme.com/officers-and-directors.shtml
This may be the one (or one of the ones) in the algae-to-oil area that is beginning to separate from the pack.
The algae-to-oil rage has been going for a couple of years now, but it is interesting to see that Solazyme was founded in 2003- a veritable old-timer. Perhaps the company has figured a few things out that the newcomers have not.
Unlike a bunch of the other companies that are trying to be players in the space (or just trying to sell penny stock to the unsuspecting public), the company has some serious talent and experience on the management team. These people are for real - http://www.solazyme.com/officers-and-directors.shtml
This may be the one (or one of the ones) in the algae-to-oil area that is beginning to separate from the pack.
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