Propel Biofuels, a Seattle-based startup that is building public biodiesel fueling sites, has raised $4.75 million in its Series A round of funding from @Ventures and Nth Power, the company announced on Wednesday. @Ventures led the round and was joined by local business investors including Andrew Stout, founder of Full Circle Farms; Ronny Bell, founder of Pioneer Organics; Barry Barr, founder of KAVU; and Jack Rafn, founder of RAFN Construction.
Founder Rob Elam told us that the company plans to spend the funding on expanding its network of fueling stations; Propel will launch the first of its fueling stations out of beta within a couple months. Earlier this year Propel received a loan from Imperium Renewables (a large Seattle-based biodiesel producer which recently filed for an IPO) partly in exchange for an agreement to sell some of Imperium’s biofuel.
Update: Rob Day, principal at @Ventures, says to us in an email that “fueling locations are a critical missing link in the biofuels supply chain right now.” Day thinks that Propel’s solution makes it easy for independent gas station owners that are looking to offer a green fueling solution, with low upfront costs and low risk. We also wrote about Kris Moller’s Conserv Fuel station, which offers biofuels in Southern California.
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