Date: April 4, 2011
Source: Agilyx Corporation
Expanding its portfolio of alternative technology bets, Waste Management Inc. (Houston, TX) has invested in Agilyx Corp. (Portland, OR), a company that coverts recycled waste plastic into synthetic crude oil. Agilyx, (pronounced AJ-il-ix) announced last week that it has secured $22 million in new funding from a group of new and existing investors led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), and joined by new strategic investors, Waste Management and Total Energy Ventures International, an affiliate of oil and gas major Total S.A. Existing investors, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Saffron Hill Ventures, and Reference Capital also participated in the round. Agilyx operates what the company calls "the largest commercially operational waste plastic to synthetic crude oil facility in North America." "Waste Management wants to maximize the value of the materials it manages," said Tim Cesarek, managing director of organic growth at Waste Management. "Agilyx's technology complements Waste Management's advancement of thermal chemical conversion technology platforms and provides us with a viable option for processing contaminated and difficult to recycle waste plastics while creating a high value commodity," he said.
PRESS RELEASE
March 31, 2011
Agilyx Secures $22 Million Series B Round to Accelerate Growth and Expand Operations
Financing led by Kleiner Perkins, Waste Management & Total Energy Ventures
Agilyx Corporation, (pronounced AJ-il-ix) announced today it has secured $22 million in Series B funding, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), and joined by new strategic investors, Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE:WM) and Total Energy Ventures International, an affiliate of oil and gas major Total S.A. (NYSE:TOT). Existing investors, Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital, Saffron Hill Ventures, and Reference Capital also participated in the round. Agilyx is the first company to economically convert difficult to recycle waste plastic into synthetic crude oil.
"This latest investment in Agilyx represents a significant milestone for our company," said Chris Ulum, chief executive officer of Agilyx Corporation. "With these funds and strategic partners at our side, we are well positioned to help our customers and the communities in which they operate improve the diversion and recovery of waste plastics, and create new local sources of crude oil. By providing this alternative while the world's insatiable appetite for oil continues, our solution can offset the use of fossil crude oil and create new cleantech jobs in the process."
Agilyx's fully permitted, patented waste plastic conversion technology recycles mixed waste plastic into synthetic crude oil in a scalable, versatile, and environmentally-beneficial manner. Its expertise is in its efficient, anaerobic thermal reclamation process and in the commercial application of this process, including building and operating commercial scale systems, and successfully marketing synthetic crude oil as a feedstock to existing petroleum refineries. The Company deploys its systems with companies engaged in the management of plastic waste streams.
Today Agilyx's facility near Portland, Oregon is the largest commercially operational waste plastic to synthetic crude oil facility in North America. The Company was the first of its kind to successfully permit in the U.S. and has the first known refinery off take agreement in the industry. Agilyx has produced and sold more than 120,000 gallons of crude oil, meaning its technology has recovered over 1 million pounds of plastic that would otherwise have been landfilled or incinerated, while providing cleantech jobs and a new domestic source of crude oil.
"Agilyx is the only company using waste to make a truly viable synthetic crude product. With this capital and the addition of world class strategic partners like Total and Waste Management, we are confident in the ability of Agilyx to quickly make a positive impact on the way mixed waste plastic is handled, and the way fuel is produced around the world," said Amol Deshpande, a member of KPCB's GreenTech Investment Team.
"Waste Management wants to maximize the value of the materials it manages," said Tim Cesarek, managing director of Organic Growth at Waste Management. "Agilyx's technology complements Waste Management's advancement of thermal chemical conversion technology platforms and provides us with a viable option for processing contaminated and difficult to recycle waste plastics while creating a high value commodity."
"As a major plastics manufacturer and as an oil refining company, Total is pleased to support the further development of Agilyx, whose technology offers a scalable economic option to recovering waste plastics," said Manoelle Lepoutre, senior vice president Sustainable Development and Environment for TOTAL SA, and president of Total Energy Ventures International.
About Agilyx Corporation
Agilyx is an alternative energy company - the first in the world to economically convert difficult-to-recycle waste plastics into crude oil through a patented system that is scalable, versatile, and environmentally beneficial. Applying its proprietary technology, Agilyx reduces plastic waste normally destined for landfills, produces refinery-ready crude oil, and creates community and local jobs with its small-scale, distributed waste management and energy production approach. The company's affordable, modular systems are sold to industrial and municipal waste plastic generators and aggregators looking to reduce disposal-related costs and increase plastics-associated revenues – all while meeting challenging environmental standards, curbing the need for new landfills, and extracting the often-unused and untapped energy contained within waste plastic. Agilyx has the only known refinery offtake agreement in the industry and currently ships crude oil from its showcase facility in Portland, Oregon to a refinery in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. For more information, please visit www.agilyx.com.
About Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
Since its founding in 1972, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers has backed entrepreneurs in over 600 ventures, including AOL, Amazon.com, Citrix, Compaq Computer, Electronic Arts, Genentech, Genomic Health, Google, Intuit, Juniper Networks, Netscape, Lotus, Sun Microsystems, Symantec, Verisign and Xilinx. KPCB portfolio companies employ more than 250,000 people. More than 150 of the firm's portfolio companies have gone public. Many other ventures have achieved success through mergers and acquisitions. The firm has offices in Menlo Park, California; Beijing, China; and Shanghai, China. For additional information visit, www.kpcb.com.
About Waste Management, Inc.
Waste Management, Inc., based in Houston, Texas, is the leading provider of comprehensive waste management services in North America. Through its subsidiaries, the company provides collection, transfer, recycling and resource recovery, and disposal services. It is the largest recycler in North America and a leading developer, operator and owner of waste-to-energy and landfill gas-to-energy facilities in the United States. The company's customers include residential, commercial, industrial, and municipal customers throughout North America. To learn more information about Waste Management visit www.wm.com or www.thinkgreen.com.
About Total Energy Ventures
Total Energy Ventures is the corporate venture arm of French oil & gas major Total. Its investments support the development of companies with innovative technologies and business models in areas such as alternative and renewable energies, efficient use of energy and natural resources, waste management, greenhouse gas reduction, etc. that will help meet the challenges of the energy diversification. The investments primarily consist of acquiring minority interests in selected companies during capital increases to help finance their development.
Total is one of the largest major integrated oil and gas companies in the world, with activities in more than 130 countries. The Group is also a first rank player in chemicals. Its 93,000 employees put their expertise to work in every part of the industry – exploration and production of oil and natural gas, refining and marketing, gas and new energies, trading, and chemicals. Total is working to help satisfy the global demand for energy, both today and tomorrow. www.total.com.
About Chrysalix Energy Venture Capital
Chrysalix is a venture capital firm investing in technologies that will drive the new energy economy. The Firm provides early-stage financing, hands-on assistance, and strategic connections to innovative companies confronting the world's most important energy and environmental issues. In the past few years, the Firm has consistently ranked among the top most active clean energy technology venture capital firms in the world and in 2010, was listed as the most active cleantech VC by the Cleantech Group. The Chrysalix team has an exceptional track record in this emerging industry. Collectively, it has over 120 years of experience in the energy industry and over 120 years in the venture capital business. The Firm is backed by a strong group of international blue-chip industrial and financial Limited Partners, and is headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia. In total, Chrysalix has approximately $300M in assets under management. For more information, visit www.chrysalix.com.
About Saffron Hill Ventures
A London-based global venture capital firm, Saffron Hill was founded in 2000 by a unique group of principals and shareholders to pursue opportunities presented by the rapid growth of the European technology sector. Saffron Hill has subsequently also made significant investments into US companies poised for international growth, and balances a portfolio mix of cleantech and traditional technology investments. For additional information visit www.saffronhill.com.
About Reference Capital
The Reference Capital team has been living, investing and operating companies in the Northwest U.S. and Western Canada since 1986. During that time, we have been dedicated to identifying and funding great ideas that become globally competitive companies. As the General Partner for a family of venture funds that focus on the areas of Sustainability and Healthcare, we are committed to growing companies that leverage Northwest and West Coast attributes of talent, market knowledge and capital. These companies will deliver excellent returns to investors, be globally competitive and establish clear market leadership positions. For more information, visit www.referencecapital.com.
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