Harvest Power, which turns organic biowaste into bioenergy, natural soils, fertilizers and mulches, announced a $20 million financing round. The lead investors were True North Venture Partners, Industry Ventures, and Al Gore’s private equity company, Generation Investment Management. The company reports that the financing will be used to accelerate development of new opportunities in the clean energy space with its anaerobic digestion technologies, as well as provide growth capital for both its bulk and consumer organics businesses.
“I am pleased that Harvest Power has such strong support from our investors,” says Kathleen Ligocki, Harvest’s CEO. “Harvest’s growth over the last few years has been impressive, positioning the company at the forefront of an organics revolution. Food and organic waste diversion is an incredibly hot topic for many communities, as is producing renewable natural gas from anaerobic digestion. This injection of capital, combined with our outstanding team, unique competencies, and superior products, will catalyze the next level of growth for our company.”
Michael Ahearn, who has served on Harvest’s Board of Directors since 2012, has been named the new Chairman of the Board of Directors. Ahearn was a co-founder at First Solar in 1999 and served as their CEO from 2000-2009. The company also reports that the founder and former board chairman, Paul Sellew, will continue with Harvest as “thought leader and Chairman of the company’s Industry Advisory Board.”
“Harvest is defining the sustainable path for communities to manage their organic waste streams in the future. It’s important work, and with Kathleen’s leadership and the excellent team she has assembled Harvest is well positioned to succeed,” says Mike Ahearn. “We’re pleased to join the rest of the strong investor group Harvest has assembled in supporting this effort.”
Harvest Power’s mission is to “create a more sustainable future by helping communities across North America better manage and beneficially re-use their organic waste through the production of renewable energy, soils, mulches and natural fertilizers.” Harvest has grown rapidly since its founding in 2008, and has been named to the Global Cleantech 100 for five years in a row. They are also the recipient of Bloomberg’s 2013 New Energy Pioneer Award and was named one of Fast Company’s 50 Most Innovative Companies in the World for 2014.
Image of anaerobic digester courtesy of Wikipedia
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