Viridos’ Algae Biofuels to Decarbonize Jet and Diesel Fuel using Highly Productive, Sustainable, and Scalable Saltwater Algae

Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and United Airlines Ventures Join Viridos Series A

Viridos, Inc., the leading algae biofuel company dedicated to creating sustainable, low-carbon, algae-based jet and diesel fuel, announced that it has raised a $25M Series A equity investment. The Series A was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures (BEV) and joined by Chevron U.S.A. Inc. and United Airlines Ventures. The funding will be used for R&D to further increase algae oil productivity to reach commercially deployable levels.

Globally, diesel and jet fuel account for over a third of the liquid fossil fuel used. The heavy transportation sector comprising aviation, shipping, and long-distance trucking relies on these fuels with demand expected to continue to grow for decades, creating major decarbonization challenges. Viridos aims to solve this challenge by leading the bioengineering of microalgae and has already achieved seven times the oil productivity compared to wild algae. This sets the stage for the scalable and sustainable production of algae oil as the feedstock of choice for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel (RD). In fact, SAF and RD made from Viridos algae oil are expected to have a 70% reduced carbon footprint.

See related article: Breakthrough Energy Announces $50 Million Grant to LanzaJet to Produce Sustainable Aviation Fuel

Viridos’ bioengineering technology consists of genetically engineering algae, combined with optimized production processes and systems to enable large scale production. The company’s unique approach combines several important and unique attributes contributing to scalability and sustainability, including:

• Surface area oil productivities of Viridos algae far exceed any traditional oil crop, achieving high algae oil output on comparatively small areas
• Viridos algae are grown in vessels containing seawater. This allows contained deployment in hot and dry locations without taxing scarce freshwater and arable land resources, while eliminating runoff
• Viridos algae have extremely high oil contents facilitating downstream processing to algae oil
• Viridos algae oil is a quality plant oil allowing existing bio-refineries to process the oil with high yields

“By establishing production sites to grow Viridos-engineered microalgae in saltwater, we are creating the foundation for a biofuel future that moves away from fossil fuels without competing for precious resources such as fresh water and arable land. We are excited to have the support from BEV, the leading energy transition venture capital fund, Chevron, and United Airlines. Together we can build the ecosystem needed to bring algae biofuels to the market,” said Oliver Fetzer, Viridos Chief Executive Officer. “We look forward to bringing our oil-producing algae to commercial readiness and then growing them to produce scalable quantities of SAF and RD.”

“Decarbonizing the heavy transportation industry is critical for addressing climate change and therefore a top priority for BEV,” said Carmichael Roberts, Breakthrough Energy Ventures. “Oliver and his team at Viridos have a promising technology for converting algae into sustainable liquid fuels. The science behind their platform positions them to crack the code on the critical barriers to scale, making Viridos an important addition to BEV’s portfolio.”

“SAF is proven, scalable, and the best tool we have to reduce our carbon emissions from flying, but we face a significant shortage of available feedstock,” said United Airlines Ventures President Mike Leskinen. “As the global aviation leader in SAF production investment, United remains committed to reaching net zero carbon emissions, without relying on traditional carbon offsets by 2050. Viridos’ algae-based biofuel technology has the potential to help solve our supply problem without the need for farmland or other agricultural resources, and marks our inaugural investment in our new cross-industry Sustainable Flight Fund.”