Talk about a high-risk, high-reward startup. Joule Unlimited has a new CEO and has raised $50 million in new funding, all to advance its vision for renewable biofuels. The Bedford company, which started in 2007, has now raised more than $160 million in total. Joule uses genetically engineered organisms to produce fuel and chemicals without tapping into fresh water or food crops. Now it has to prove the process works cheaply enough to be competitive with fossil fuels. That would be revolutionary. But if it fails, it will be another big write-off for the cleantech industry.
In other innovation news…
-A lot of activity from mobile entrepreneurs around Kendall Square. Startups like Bon’App, Vioby, Industry, and Voice Dream are trying to reinvent everything from nutrition and shopping to professional networking and e-books, all from a mobile perspective.
-Our company of the week, Agero, is the best kept secret in Medford. The roadside assistance firm has sold off its connected-car division to Sirius XM Radio for $530 million and is now reinvesting in data services for insurance companies and carmakers.
-And lastly, what do venture capitalists have in common with smartphones? According to Gaurav Jain from Founder Collective, successful new VCs are like Apple devices, the online investment platform AngelList is like Samsung and Android phones, and, yes, the eventual losers in the VC game are like Blackberry.
