Qteros Cuts Staff, Including CEO, as Biofuels Business Struggles

It is a dark time for biofuels companies—and industrial biotech around Boston, more broadly.

Xconomy has learned that Qteros, a heavily funded developer of cellulosic ethanol technology based in Marlborough, MA, has laid off most of its staff, including its CEO John McCarthy. The news was reported earlier today by Dan Primack at Fortune. Xconomy received a tip yesterday from a source with knowledge of the company.

The source said that Qteros “couldn’t raise money” and was “reduced to a skeleton crew to sell anything of value.” Mick Sawka, who is listed on the company’s website as senior vice president, is the acting CEO, according to the source. Messages left with Qteros and Battery Ventures, one of the company’s lead investors, were not returned.

Qteros started in 2006 as SunEthanol (it changed its name in 2008), out of UMass Amherst. Its investors include Battery, Venrock Associates, Long River Ventures, Soros Fund Management, Camros Capital, Valero Energy, and BP. By our count, the company had raised nearly $30 million prior to its most recent financing, which was a $22 million Series C round announced at the beginning of this year.

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.