France-based oil major Total-backed specialty chemicals company Elevance Renewable Sciences has raised another $50m, topping up after a $100m series C round in December.
US-based Elevance, which makes chemicals from natural oils, spun off from seeds company Cargill in 2005. It has raised the money from undisclosed investors, according to a regulatory filing.
Elevance raised $100m in its series C round from a consortium in December, including Total Energy Ventures International, the corporate venturing unit of French oil major Total.
Venture capital firm Naxos Capital Partners led the C round, and was joined by private equity firm TPG’s biotech and growth funds.
Earlier in 2010, Elevance signed a joint venture with Wilmar International to build the world’s largest biorefinery in Indonesia, and a joint development agreement with Stepan Company to commercialise novel surfactants (compounds that lower the surface tension of a liquid) and anti-microbials (substances that kill or inhibit the growth of micro-organisms, such as bacteria, fungi, or protozoans).
In addition to Wilmar and Stepan, Elevance has Cargill, chemicals group Dow Corning, Evonik Industries, Trent University, Tetramer Technologies, United Soybean Board and SaskCanola among its strategic partners.
In 2007, Elevance raised more than $40m in capital and technology invested by TPG, Cargill and US-based chemical company Materia in its series A round.