This is one of the bigger cleantech bets around Boston as of late. Cambridge, MA-based Rive Technology said today it has scored $25 million in Series C financing led by new investor Blackstone Group. Rive’s existing investors Charles River Ventures, Advanced Technology Ventures, and Nth Power also participated in the round, which brings Rive’s total venture funding to $47 million. The company says the new money will be used to support commercial trials of its catalyst technology in oil refineries.
Rive’s technology, which is based on research done at MIT, involves altering catalysts used in chemical reactions performed on long-chain hydrocarbon molecules. That potentially enables refiners to squeeze more usable fuel out of each barrel of crude oil, which in turn could lead to higher profits and lower environmental impact. The company says the technique also could be applied to produce other chemicals and biofuels more efficiently.
Rive was founded in 2005 by CEO Larry Evans and Javier Garcia Martinez, a former postdoc at MIT and currently a faculty member at the University of Alicante in Spain. Evans said in a statement that Rive plans to expand its staff “in anticipation of commercial operations.”
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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