Press
Strategic Backer Joins Kleiner Perkins In Harvest Power 's Series A1
January, 2010
by Mara Lemos Stein (Dow Jones)
| Waste Management Inc. joined the Series A1 round of financing in Harvest Power Inc., a start-up that has developed technology to convert organic waste into high-quality compost and renewable energy. The companies declined to disclose the terms of the deal, which makes Houston-based Waste Management both a shareholder and a strategic partner in Harvest Power. |
| Other institutional investors in the round, venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Munich Venture Partners, also increased their investments in Harvest by an undisclosed amount as part of the closing of the Series A1. Harvest Power held a closing on $10 million in late in December, which brought the company's equity financing in 2009 to $18 million. Waste Management expects to tap Harvest Power's technology and capabilities around composting and conversion technology, said Tim Cesarek, Waste Management's managing director of the organic growth group. "We're looking to find organic waste streams that are in our channel, to identify the best use for [the waste]" using Harvest's technology, said Cesarek in an interview. The partners will also explore partnerships in organic waste conversion facilities. Waltham, Mass.-based Harvest, founded in 2008, focuses on managing organic waste generated from urban populations, industry and agriculture. The company combines a high-solids anaerobic digestion technology for biogas production with its proprietary composting technologies. "Through our partnership with Waste Management, we're looking to take the organic waste [that Waste Management] has in their network...to build organics processing facilities to add more value to that waste," said Paul Sellew, Harvest's chief executive, in an interview. In October, Harvest acquired family-run Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre in greater Vancouver, a green and food waste plant that was already using Harvest's composting technology. The company will use the site - its first owned-and-operated facility - to demonstrate the biogas production for electricity and thermal power generation. Seeking more acquisitions is also part of Harvest Power's growth plan, said Sellew. North America generates more than 180 million tons of organic waste each year, and regional and national renewable energy mandates will drive demand for clean energy, according to a joint statement by Harvest Power and Waste Management. |
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| Document DJFVW00020100126e61q000ba |
