Venture-capital firms have had a tough time, and high-tech startups have had it even tougher. But both sides are set to gather today to see whether they can do a little business.
The setting is the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s 43rd Growth Forum, bringing in more than 200 investors to look at 34 companies.
Two of those companies are Fort Collins-based VanDyne SuperTurbo and Lakewood-based Zea Chem.
“The aim is to get them talking to each other, talking about potential deals and what a company has to do to make itself more attractive,” said L. Marty Murphy, head of NREL’s enterprise-development program.
The recession and slow recovery are stifling deals.
A good technology or idea isn’t enough to attract capital anymore, said Jim Imbler, ZeaChem’s chief executive.
“Today’s capital market has moved from liking PowerPoints to liking cement and steel,” he said.
Ed VanDyne, founder and chief executive of VanDyne SuperTurbo, was at an investor forum in New York last week and is at the NREL forum.
“I’m just pitching our company and its value and trying to get investors,” VanDyne said.
ZeaChem, which turns poplar trees into biofuels, is a startup that isn’t just starting up.
The 8-year-old company is building a 250,000-gallon-per-year demonstration-scale cellulosic bio-refinery in Boardman, Ore., with the help of a $25 million U.S. Department of Energy grant.
Last year, it also raised $34 million in venture capital, with Valero Energy, the largest independent U.S. refiner, as one of the backers.
“It is a tough time for startups. We were very lucky in our timing,” Imbler said.
ZeaChem uses standard technologies but combines them in a way that provides a higher yield and no carbon-dioxide emissions, he said.
The outputs include ethanol for fuel or chemical intermediates such as ethyl acetate, which is used in products such as paints.
VanDyne’s SuperTurbochargers use exhaust waste heat and torque from a motor’s drive train to increase motor efficiency by up to 30 percent in an automobile, VanDyne said.
The selling point is that at $350, the device offers energy savings comparable with the $3,000 battery and controller in a hybrid vehicle, VanDyne said.
The company has received a $149,000 grant from the National Science Foundation and a $70,000 U.S. Army grant.
VanDyne has an agreement with Cummins, the largest U.S. maker of heavy-duty diesel truck engines, to work on fuel efficiency.
The company is seeking $5 million to $10 million in new financing.
Mark Jaffe: 303-954-1912 or mjaffe@denverpost.com
