Biomass-to-ethanol developer Mascoma gets $30M shot in arm

Mascoma Corporation, a cellulosic biomass-to-ethanol developer, has raised $30 million in a second round of venture funding.

The financing was led by General Catalyst Partners, with additional participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, VantagePoint Venture Partners, Atlas Ventures and Pinnacle Ventures, as well as existing investors Khosla Ventures and Flagship Ventures.

Cellulosic ethanol holds promise for facilitating the conversion of waste organics into usable ethanol.

The challenge has been to cost-effectively break down and convert that cellulosic material (grass, wood, agricultural and forestry wastes) into ethanol.

Mascoma is developing bio and process technology to try to break the cost barrier in cellulosic ethanol conversion.

The funding will help the company develop a pilot-scale plant and other demonstration capabilities.

Mascoma is based in Cambridge, Mass.

Cleantech developments making news in the past 24 hours

• Qteros claims 15-fold improvements in cellulosic ethanol yield
• Solairedirect raises €20M to move into commercial solar
• Intel, Numonyx open $20M water treatment plant in Israel
• Booming data-center business creates troubles for India

View the last week of cleantech developments here | Subscribe to full feed