US-based biofuels product maker NexSteppe has raised $22m in a series C round which included the corporate venturing units of oil and gas producer Total and chemicals company DuPont.
Total Energy Ventures and DuPont Ventures were joined in the round by venture capital firms Braemar Energy Ventures and CYM Ventures, and ELFH Holdings, the investment vehicle of the Berninghausen family.
NexSteppe develops tailored crops that provide raw materials for biofuels, biopower and bio-based products. The new capital will be used to develop the company’s biomass sorghum and sweet sorghum product lines at its Palo Alto production plant, and to launch new product lines.
Anna Rath, NextSteppe’s CEO, said: “NexSteppe has already demonstrated itself as the market leader in dedicated biomass crops. We now look forward to rapidly achieving a level of scale and global presence that will make these crops a reliable, bankable feedstock solution for all bio-based industries throughout the globe.”
The company raised $14m in a round led by Braemar Energy Ventures and featuring CYM Ventures and Zygote Ventures in late 2011, which followed a $3.1m round earlier in the year.