Led · Debt Financing · Apr 2026

Carbon Upcycling develops a platform system that transforms industrial byproducts and captured CO₂ into high‑quality, low‑carbon supplementary cementitious materials for cement manufacturing. Its flagship commercial project at the Ash Grove Mississauga Cement Plant is expected to begin operations in the second half of 2026 and has the capacity to produce up to 30,000 tonnes of SCMs annually. The company has secured asset‑backed financing of up to USD 10 million from ATEL Ventures to support that first commercial deployment. Carbon Upcycling is backed by a syndicate of strategic investors, including Builders Vision, the Business Development Bank of Canada, Climate Investment, Oxy Low‑Carbon Ventures, Amplify Capital, Clean Energy Ventures, CRH Ventures, Cemex Ventures, and TITAN Group. Management frames the financing as reinforcing the commercial readiness and financeability of its technology. The company aims to use the commercial project as the foundation to scale localized, low‑carbon cement manufacturing infrastructure across North America and beyond.

Participated · Series B · Oct 2016

Emulate develops miniaturized "organ-on-a-chip" devices that culture human cells and simulate organ-specific mechanical and biological conditions to improve preclinical drug testing. The company plans to invest its latest proceeds in an R&D "roadmap" to build model organ systems tailored to drug makers’ needs. Products announced so far include a brain chip, an immune cell recruitment application spanning lung, liver and intestine chips, and a microbiome model integrated into a liver chip. Emulate says it will roll out 14 applications over the next two years, seven of which will arrive next year. The company reports 21 major drug-company customers, including Roche, Genentech, Johnson & Johnson and Gilead Sciences. Emulate has worked with the FDA under a 2020 CRADA (its lung chips were used in COVID-19 research) and notes a potentially favorable regulatory backdrop via the FDA Modernization Act of 2021. Emulate develops a living Human Emulation System powered by Organs-on-Chips technology, comprising Organ-Chips, instrumentation, and software applications. The company’s Organ-Chips include lung, liver, brain, intestine and kidney products and are designed to recreate human physiology in a micro-engineered environment. Emulate plans to add advanced biological capabilities—including models of thrombosis and immune system modulation—and a range of disease models to enable drug efficacy testing and insights into disease mechanisms. It will also enhance the Human Emulation System with new software applications for data analysis, integration with standard analytical approaches, and collaboration across teams. Proceeds from the financing will be used to broaden product functionality, build commercial readiness, and expand community engagement to drive adoption by early pharmaceutical users. Emulate has developed its platform through collaborations with industry, academia, hospitals, and regulatory agencies and holds a worldwide exclusive license from Harvard University to Organs-on-Chips intellectual property. Emulate creates living products based on Organs-on-Chips technology and is commercializing a lab-ready Human Emulation System that includes Organ-Chips, instrumentation, and software apps. Each Organ-Chip contains micro-engineered channels lined with living human cells to recreate physiology and mechanical forces, intended to predict human response more precisely than cell culture or animal testing. The company intends to serve industries including pharmaceuticals, chemicals, food, agriculture, cosmetics, and consumer products, and is working with clinical partners to produce personalized Organ-Chips using patients' stem cells. Emulate holds the worldwide exclusive license from Harvard University (Wyss Institute) to the Organs-on-Chips intellectual property, and its founding team pioneered the technology at the Wyss Institute. The company is privately held and based in Boston. Management says the expanded funding will accelerate R&D, expedite product launches, expand strategic partnerships, and move the company toward profitability. Emulate commercializes Organs-on-Chips technology as a lab-ready Human Emulation System that combines Organ-Chips, instrumentation, and software apps to enable human-relevant R&D within existing workflows. The system is designed to be plug-and-play, increasing throughput and allowing customizable experiments without specialized expertise. Emulate plans to expand its Organ-Chip portfolio beyond lung, liver, intestine, and skin to include kidney, heart, and brain, and to grow disease-state applications for neurodegenerative diseases, oncology, intestinal diseases and the microbiome, and infectious diseases. The company is pursuing collaborations with industry, academia, clinical and government partners and is working on Organ-Chips personalized with individual patients’ stem cells for precision medicine applications. Emulate holds the worldwide exclusive license from Harvard University to the Organs-on-Chips intellectual property and its founding team pioneered the technology at the Wyss Institute. The company aims to translate its R&D into commercial products across drug development, agriculture, cosmetics, food, and chemical-based consumer products. Financially, Emulate announced a $28 million Series B to accelerate product development, launch the Human Emulation System, expand strategic partnerships, and move toward profitability. Emulate develops an automated Organs-on-Chips platform and software that bioemulates human organ physiology and disease to predict responses to medicines, chemicals and toxins. Its miniaturized devices contain channels lined with living human cells cultured under continuous flow and mechanical regimens (for example, cyclic breathing and peristalsis) and can be linked to form a Human-Body-on-Chips. The company emphasizes automated instrumentation that permits molecular-scale, real-time analysis to elucidate mechanisms of action and toxicity. Emulate plans to commercialize the platform through co-innovation with corporate and clinical clients and through internal development programs, targeting applications in drug development, cosmetics, personalized medicine, agriculture and consumer health. The company launched with a $12 million Series A financing to advance its first commercial applications. Emulate’s team and foundational research originate from the Wyss Institute at Harvard, and the company holds a worldwide license to a broad intellectual property portfolio from Harvard.

Participated · Debt Financing · May 2012

Edeniq develops processes and technologies, including its Pathway Technology, to produce and measure low-cost cellulosic ethanol that can be integrated into existing biorefineries with no capital investment. The company sells or licenses its solutions to U.S. ethanol plants and positions them as operationally efficient ways to increase ethanol output. Edeniq expects to more than double average customer cellulosic ethanol production over the coming year through plant optimization and technology enhancements being introduced as early as Q3 2017. Customers currently average just over 1% cellulosic ethanol and a 2% lift in total ethanol production, while best-performing plants have exceeded 2% cellulosic ethanol and a 3% lift in total production. The company’s pipeline has reached 27 plants; four are registered with the EPA for D3 RIN generation and the remainder have applied or are in trial validation. Registered co-producing plants represent approximately 400 million gallons of total ethanol production and have generated well over $1 million in D3 RIN credits less than halfway through the calendar year. Edeniq states a 120 million gallon-per-year plant can increase revenue by up to $10 million or more through integration of its technology without additional capex. Edeniq develops Pathway, a capital-light technology that produces low-cost cellulosic sugars and cellulosic ethanol from corn kernel fiber and integrates with existing fermenters at ethanol plants. The company is a leader in analytical methods required for EPA registration of co-produced cellulosic ethanol; three ethanol plants received EPA cellulosic registrations after deploying Pathway within the past four months. Edeniq sells or licenses its technologies to U.S. biorefineries and plans to use recent financing to support rapid growth in its Pathway cellulosic ethanol business, accelerate customer acquisition, and add resources for existing customers. The company is investing in sales, field services, laboratory services, and R&D and is developing technology enhancements to potentially increase the amount of cellulosic ethanol eligible for D3 RINs and other regulatory incentives. Edeniq was founded in 2008 and is headquartered in Visalia, California, with a field office in Omaha, Nebraska. Edeniq develops combined mechanical and biological technologies to break down biomass and liberate cellulosic sugars that can be converted into ethanol, chemicals, and other products. Its PATHWAY™ Platform increases ethanol yield at existing plants by 3–6% through more complete conversion of starch and corn kernel fiber. The company owns and operates a two ton per day pilot plant in Visalia, California, and is constructing a 20 ton per day demonstration plant with Usina Vale in São Paulo State, Brazil. Edeniq has a partnership with Global Bio-chem to integrate technologies in a commercial demonstration plant in Jilin Province, China, targeting production of 50,000 metric tons per year of sugars from corn stover. The company sells or licenses its capital-light, operationally efficient solutions to biorefineries in the U.S. and Brazil and plans to roll out new products and expand into new markets. Edeniq raised more than $16 million in equity to support PATHWAY™ expansion and international demonstration projects. Edeniq builds patented mechanical and biological systems — including its Cellunator mills and Pathway enzymes — that break down corn and non-food plant material into sugars for cellulosic ethanol and other renewable products. Its technologies are designed as low‑cost, bolt‑on additions to existing corn ethanol plants or for integration into new cellulosic facilities. The company operates a pilot plant in Visalia, California (built with Logos Technologies under a $25M program 80% funded by the U.S. Department of Energy) that can process two dry tons per day of feedstock and produce about 50,000 gallons per year of cellulosic ethanol. Edeniq says it is working with facilities across California and the U.S., creating the potential for hundreds of millions of gallons of cellulosic ethanol production. The company recently secured a $3.9 million grant from the California Energy Commission to advance enhancements to its cellulosic ethanol technology. Edeniq has also raised over $32 million in additional funding and entered a partnership with Flint Hills Resources Renewables. The company is headquartered in Visalia, CA, with locations in Omaha, Nebraska and the state of Sao Paulo in Brazil. EdeniQ develops processes and products that unlock sugars from renewable natural resources to supply raw material for sustainable chemical and fuel production. The company is led by President and CEO Brian Thome, CTO Dr. Thomas Griffin, VP of Business Development Peter Kilner, and CFO Scott Janssen. EdeniQ is based in Visalia, California and also has locations in Omaha, Nebraska and the state of Sao Paolo in Brazil. It recently raised over $30m in additional debt and equity financing. The equity round included existing investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Cyrus Capital, The Westly Group, Angeleno Group, I2BF Global Ventures and Element Partners, alongside new investor Flint Hills Resources Renewables LLC. As part of the financing, Jeremy Bezdek of Flint Hills Resources joined EdeniQ's board of directors.

Participated · Series B · Sep 2010

iPierian is a biotechnology company developing monoclonal antibody therapeutics for neurodegenerative diseases, focused on Tau-targeted drugs using its proprietary induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) platform. Its lead program, IPN007, is a humanized antibody targeting a novel secreted form of Tau intended to slow Tau spread in Alzheimer’s disease and other tauopathies. The company plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application for IPN007 with the U.S. FDA in 2014 and will use new financing to accelerate that clinical development. iPierian spun out a second company, True North Therapeutics, which will focus on Complement-pathway monoclonal antibodies for autoantibody-driven rare diseases. True North’s lead candidate, TNT009, is a first-in-class antibody that has completed preclinical studies and is being advanced toward clinical trials. Nancy Stagliano will serve as CEO of both companies and both are located in South San Francisco, California. iPierian focuses on the industrialization of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology and directed differentiation of patient cells to discover and develop new therapeutics. The company’s initial therapeutic focus is on neurodegenerative diseases, including spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease, and it also intends to pursue partnering opportunities in metabolic disease. iPierian completed a second closing of its Series B equity financing, bringing the total raised in this round to $28M. The transaction added new investors and expanded an existing syndicate that had already committed to the round. In conjunction with the closing, Rajeev Dadoo, Ph.D., a partner at SR One, will participate as an observer on iPierian’s board of directors. The company is based in South San Francisco, CA. iPierian develops drug discovery programs using patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), with an initial focus on neurodegenerative diseases including SMA, ALS and Parkinson’s disease. The company also maintains a broader therapeutic-area program intended for partnering in metabolic disease. The recent financing is intended to advance its programs into the clinic and to secure pharmaceutical partnerships. iPierian is based in South San Francisco, California. Since its founding in 2007, the company has raised a total of $54M in equity capital. Leadership changes accompanying the round include Krishna Yeshwant of Google Ventures joining the board and Michael C. Venuti becoming CEO and a board member.

Led · Debt Financing · Apr 2010

SolFocus develops concentrator photovoltaic (CPV) systems that combine high‑efficiency solar cells (approaching 40%) with advanced optics to provide lower‑cost solar energy. The company’s stated mission is to enable solar energy generation at a levelized cost of energy competitive with traditional fossil fuels. It received $3M in equipment financing from ATEL Ventures to support high‑volume manufacturing. The financing is equipment financing from ATEL Ventures, a provider of secured financing to emerging growth companies. SolFocus is venture‑backed by New Enterprise Associates and Apex Ventures. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, with European operations in Madrid, manufacturing in Mesa, Arizona, and manufacturing partners in China. SolFocus designs and assembles concentrating solar power systems that use glass reflectors to focus sunlight up to 650 times onto gallium-arsenide solar cells. The company purchases the expensive gallium-arsenide cells from third parties and integrates them with its reflector architecture, which is currently in small pilot mode. It operates a factory in Mesa, Ariz. that produces about 30 megawatts worth of glass reflectors per year. SolFocus has begun commercial deployments, supplying reflectors for a 500-kilowatt project in Spain and a 7.2-kilowatt system in San Francisco, and has secured deals to provide 10-megawatt packages to Greece’s Samaras Group and another 10-megawatt order with EMPE Solar in Spain. Management says it has started bringing in steady revenue and plans to use new financing to commercialize and expand production, though the company faces short-term pressure from falling silicon prices that could reduce demand for concentrating technology. The article reports the company has raised significant capital to date, which may help attract government support for expansion. SolFocus develops concentrator solar technology that uses mirrors to focus sunlight onto solar cells to squeeze more energy out of less silicon. Multiple venture firms, including Nth Power, were competing to invest and had been valuing the company in the single‑digit or low‑teens of millions. New Enterprise Associates, led by partner Scott Sandell, offered a $70 million valuation after a brief review and led the aggressive bid. SolFocus had planned to raise $12.5 million but ended the process with $32 million in the bank. Existing seed investor NGEN had provided seed funding months earlier and saw its investment converted into the value of the latest round, which effectively raised the price NGEN paid. The article frames NEA’s move as aggressive and notes expectations of more such activity in clean‑tech investing.