SG Biofuels completes $17M Series B financing

17 January 2012

SG Biofuels, Inc. (SGB), a bioenergy crop company developing elite hybrid seeds of Jatropha as a low-cost feedstock for biodiesel, biojet fuel and specialty chemicals, has completed a $17-million Series B financing led by Thomas, McNerney & Partners with participation from Finistere Ventures and current investors Flint Hills Resources, LLC and Life Technologies Corporation.

SGB will use the proceeds to expand research and development, advance commercialization efforts and scale global operations.

SGB also announced that Pratik Shah, Ph.D., partner at Thomas, McNerney, and Jerry Caulder, Ph.D., managing director for Finistere Ventures, have joined the company’s board of directors.

SGB is using molecular breeding and biotechnology to improve significantly jatropha yields and to reduce input costs, and has developed proprietary hybrid seed production technology enabling the large-scale deployment of higher yielding and uniform planting material adapted to unique growing conditions around the world.

SGB has signed customers for the deployment of 250,000 acres of Jatropha using its JMax hybrid seeds. This includes an agreement with JETBIO, leader of a multi-stakeholder initiative including Airbus, the Inter-American Development Bank, and TAM Airlines, to deploy Jatropha in Brazil for the production of biojet fuel.