US-based biotechnology company Chromatin secured $10m yesterday from backers including corporate venturing units BP Ventures, a division of oil and gas conglomerate British Petroleum, and Unilever Technology Ventures, belonging to consumer product corporation Unilever.
BP and Unilever were joined by alternative asset management firm Quantitative Investment Holdings (Quant), government-backed venture capital (VC) fund The Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund (MLSCF) and university of Illinois-backed firm Illinois Ventures. The financing marked the first closing of Chromatin’s series D round.
Unilever previously participated in Chromatin’s series C round, as did MLSCF, Quant, and Illinois, as well as life sciences merchant bank Burrill & Company and corporate/governmental partnership Foragen Technology Ventures. The round raised $12.4m in December 2008. In total, Chromatin has raised $34.8m in financing since its inception in 2001.
Chromatin develops biomass feedstocks for use by energy and chemical companies, and is working on creating next-generation sorghum seeds using its biotechnology platform. The hybrid sorghum seeds are sold through its subsidiary Sorghum Partners.
Crhomatin plans to invest the equity in funding its feedstock production program, particularly the continuation of production-scale testing of its sorghum crops in power plants.
Justin Adams, Head of BP Ventures, said: "This investment signals BP’s continued commitment to renewable energy feedstocks. Chromatin is beginning to develop an exciting bioenergy business with their sorghum platform, and we are interested in understanding how we could deploy their feedstock technologies in our own activities."