News & Press

OPXBIO Named a Finalist for “Breakout Cleantech Company of the Year”

Award Honors Leadership in Advancing Colorado’s Cleantech Industry

Boulder, Colo. – Oct. 4, 2010 – OPX Biotechnologies Inc. (OPXBIO), a renewable biochemical and biofuel company, today was named a finalist for the “Breakout Cleantech Company of the Year” award to be given by the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association (CCIA). The “Breakout Cleantech Company of the Year” is one of six awards that CCIA will give at its inaugural Colorado Cleantech Awards Celebration on Oct. 19 at the Denver Marriot City Center.

“Since our founding, OPXBIO has focused on developing renewable and cost-competitive bio-based chemicals to address today’s environmental and natural resource challenges,” said Charles R. (Chas) Eggert, OPXBIO’s president and CEO. “It’s an honor to be recognized by CCIA for not only driving sustainable transformation of the industry, but also contributing to economic development and generating new jobs in Colorado’s cleantech sector.”

Using its proprietary leading EDGE™ (Efficiency Directed Genome Engineering) technology, OPXBIO manufactures renewable bio-based chemicals and fuels that are lower cost, higher return, and more sustainable than existing petroleum-based products. With unprecedented speed and capital efficiency, in just 18 months OPXBIO has developed and piloted the microbe and bioprocess that will produce its first product – BioAcrylic – at 25 percent lower cost than petro-acrylic with a 75 percent reduction in green house gas emissions. Today’s petro-acrylic has an $8 billion global market in applications such as paints, adhesives, diapers and detergents. BioAcrylic will advance to pre-commercial scale demonstration with a strategic development partner in 2011 on the way to full commercialization in 2014. The company’s second product is diesel fuel bio-processed from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded OPXBIO $6 million to support this development.

OPXBIO’s potential and progress has been key to attracting private investment and government funding to grow the company since being founded in 2007 as a technology spin-out from the University of Colorado - Boulder. In addition to the U.S. Department of Energy grant, OPXBIO has raised $22.4 million from venture capital investors in Colorado, Silicon Valley and New York. In early 2011, the company will seek a third round of financing to carry it through the demonstration phase for BioAcrylic.

"We're extremely pleased to include OPX Biotechnologies among the 20 finalists being honored at our inaugural annual awards event," said Christine Shapard, executive director of the CCIA. “We have simply been overwhelmed by the response for advance reservations to the event. We thank the Colorado Cleantech industry and business community at large for welcoming our new cleantech awards event with such enthusiasm and financial support."

About OPXBIO

OPXBIO uses its proprietary leading EDGE™ (Efficiency Directed Genome Engineering) technology to manufacture renewable bio-based chemicals and fuels that are lower cost, higher return, and more sustainable than existing petro-based products. With unprecedented speed and capital efficiency, in just 18 months OPXBIO has developed and piloted the microbe and bioprocess that will produce its first renewable chemical product - BioAcrylic - at 25% lower cost than petro-acrylic with a 75% reduction in green house gas emissions. The company’s second product is diesel fuel bio-processed from carbon dioxide and hydrogen. OPXBIO has raised $22.4 million with venture investors Mohr Davidow Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, Altira Group, and X/Seed Capital. For more information, visit http://www.opxbiotechnologies.com.

About the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association

The Colorado Cleantech Industry Association represents the interests of the state’s cleantech industry. Its mission is to further establish Colorado as a world leader in clean technology by providing representation and advocacy, a unified voice, relevant programming and capacity development.
For more information, visit http://www.coloradocleantech.com.

Download this press release as a PDF.

Media Contact:
Brandy Radey
Cohn Marketing
303.839.1415 ext. 55
brandy@cohnmarketing.com

Shelly Curtiss
CCIA Communications Director
303-623-2690
shelly@coloradocleantech.com