Friday, May 19, 2006

Kleiner Invests In Altra

Los Angeles-based Altra, a biofuel firm acquiring and operating ethanol production plants, has received $50M in venture investment from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, The Angeleno Group, Khosla Ventures, Omninet Private Equity and Sage Capital Partners. Kleiner announced the investment yesterday, in conjunction with a new "Green Innovation" prize it has established to encourage green technology. Altra is in a definitive agreement to acquire California's largest operating ethanol plant, and has invested in five biofueld plants with a total capacity of 175 million gallons of ethanol and 80 million gallons of biodiesel per year. Kleiner also said that it is establishing the KPCB Prize for Green Innovation to award $100,000 annually for the best technology or policy innovation in Greentech. Altra was formerly known as Malibu Capital Partners. More information »