EdeniQ, a biomaterials and sustainable fuels company, today announced it has raised over $30 million in additional capital. EdeniQ is a fast-growing biomaterials innovator, developing processes and products that unlock sugars from renewable natural resources that will ultimately provide the raw material needed for sustainable chemical and fuel production.

The financing came in the form of both an equity investment and a debt facility. The equity investment was led by both existing investors, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Cyrus Capital, The Westly Group, Angeleno Group, I2BF Global Ventures and Element Partners as well as a new investor, Flint Hills Resources Renewables LLC, a subsidiary of privately held Koch Industries, Inc. Flint Hills Resources Renewables LLC is among the largest ethanol producers in the United States with four ethanol plants in Iowa. Comerica and ATEL Ventures provided the debt facility.

"EdeniQ has demonstrated significant promise in its effort to create a scalable, cost-competitive and high-quality supply of sugars," said John Denniston, Investment Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "EdeniQ's approach - integrating specialized enzymes with its proprietary mechanical equipment for plant material milling - has the potential to deliver consistently improved costs in cellulosic sugar production."

Through its proprietary, easy-to-integrate products, EdeniQ increases yield and output at existing ethanol plants and provides a pathway to transition to cellulosic feedstock. EdeniQ's Cellunator™ mills a wide variety of biomass, including non-food plant materials, into small, uniform pieces of feedstock that can be easily converted, at very low cost, to sugars. The company's Pathway™ enzymes, in turn, break down the cellulosic materials that are already part of the ethanol production process. The EdeniQ systems can be added as bolt-on technologies to existing ethanol facilities or integrated into new cellulosic ethanol processing plants.

"EdeniQ's proprietary technologies provide significant value for the dry-mill ethanol producer in today's marketplace," said Jeremy Bezdek, managing director of innovation for Flint Hills Resources and newly appointed member of the EdeniQ board of directors. "Our investment in EdeniQ is another step in our vision to enhance the competitive advantage of our ethanol production facilities."

EdeniQ is poised to grow within a rapidly evolving market by leveraging an executive team that has decades of biomaterials expertise and a proven track record of successful business formation. The executive team includes Brian Thome, President and CEO; Dr. Thomas Griffin, CTO; Peter Kilner, Vice President of Business Development; and Scott Janssen, CFO.

"The market is eager for innovation that can scale from today's ethanol technology to tomorrow's resource requirements by creating the lowest-cost route to cellulosic sugars and subsequent high-value products," said Brian Thome, President and CEO, EdeniQ. "The investments by these prestigious organizations allow EdeniQ to continue our strategy of taking advantage of the existing infrastructure in place across the country and providing a proven pathway to increased sugar yield."

About EdeniQ

EdeniQ is focused on integrating patented mechanical and biological processes to efficiently and cost-effectively break down plant material into sugars that become sustainable fuels and/or industrial materials. EdeniQ's patent portfolio includes innovation in biological catalysts plus mechanical processes that helps meet the industry-wide challenge of taking today's plant-based resources into future markets and applications. Headquartered in Visalia, CA, with locations in Omaha, Nebraska and the state of Sao Paolo in Brazil, EdeniQ is funded by such leading investors as Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Flint Hills Resources Renewables, The Westly Group and Cyrus Capital.