Khosla Ventures and Virgin Fuels Invest in Gevo, Inc.

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Gevo, Inc., a company that will produce advanced biofuels, including butanol, to help the world end its addiction to oil, announced today that Virgin Fuels has joined founding investor Khosla Ventures in a Series B venture round and will join the Gevo Board. In addition, Gevo announced that Patrick Gruber has joined the company as CEO. Gruber is a 20-year veteran of the bioscience industry and companies including Cargill and NatureWorks, and has won a number of awards and patents for environmental innovation.

"Gevo aims to represent not only a step toward true energy diversity for the country, but yet another cost-effective alternative to fossil fuels," said Vinod Khosla, managing partner of Khosla Ventures, which was the original venture investor. Khosla recently told biotechnology industry representatives that he believes biofuels could someday replace 100% of fossil fuels. "Major credit should be given to the founders of Gevo and the Caltech team for their groundbreaking work with biological systems toward new developments in alternative energy."

Sir Richard Branson formed Virgin Fuels last year to make investments in renewable energy companies. "Mitigating the effects of climate change will require incredible efforts around the globe," said Branson. "Through Virgin Fuels, we look for investments in companies - such as Gevo, Inc. - that will help to significantly reduce net greenhouse gas emissions, improve management of scarce resources, and have a long term positive impact on our society."

Gevo has exclusively licensed technology in the field of biofuels developed in the labs of Frances Arnold at Caltech and other prominent labs.

"Gevo will take the best of the scientific world, combined with top business practices, to succeed in replacing existing technologies with new, more environmentally sound alternatives," said Frances Arnold, company founder and professor of chemical engineering and biochemistry at Caltech. "I am excited to have the chance to make a difference through our institution's work with Gevo."

Gruber joins Gevo from Outlast Technologies, where he served as President and CEO. Prior to this, he was a founder and CTO of Cargill Dow/NatureWorks LLC, the first company to develop and successfully commercialize the renewable resource-based PLA (Polylactic Acid) to replace petrochemical plastics. While at Cargill, Gruber held a number of executive positions that included Director of Technology Development for Cargill’s bio-products areas and Technical Director of Cargill’s BioScience division. He was the Leader and later the General Manager of Cargill’s Renewable Bioplastics project.

“Gevo is at the forefront of turning biomass into products like butanol, making this break-through process a commercial and affordable reality,” said Gruber. “Gevo is well-positioned to become the world’s leading advanced biofuels company, and I’m very pleased to be a part of it.”

About Gevo, Inc.

Founded in 2005, Gevo, Inc. is working on new methods for the production of alternative fuels. Gevo is based upon technology developed at the California Institute of Technology by Gevo founders Frances Arnold, Matthew Peters, and Peter Meinhold and is funded by Khosla Ventures and Virgin Fuels. Gevo is based in Pasadena, California.

About Khosla Ventures

Khosla Ventures offers venture assistance, strategic advice and capital to entrepreneurs. The firm helps entrepreneurs extend the potential of the Internet to new markets such as mobile and supports breakthrough scientific work such as bio refineries. Vinod Khosla founded the firm in 2004. Vinod has been labeled the #1 VC by Forbes and Fortune recently labeled him as one of the nation's most influential ethanol advocates, noting "there are venture capitalists, and then there's Vinod Khosla." The firm's capital comes entirely from its own partners and a portion of all profits are donated to charitable causes, with an emphasis on micro-finance, education, and the environment. Khosla Ventures is based in Menlo Park, California.

About Virgin Fuels

Virgin Fuels has been established to invest up to $400mn in companies in the renewable energy and resource efficiency sectors in the US and Europe. Virgin Fuels is a sector-focused, multi-stage investment firm investing primarily in expansion/growth capital opportunities with an allocation to venture capital. For more information, visit www.virgin-fuels.net.