Funding bonanza for Sapphire Energy

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A Californian start-up company promising "green crude" fuel from algae has been given $50m (£25.33m) in funding from investors, including Britain's biggest charity, the Wellcome Trust.

The year-old start-up, Sapphire Energy, came out of "stealth mode" this week with an announcement that its trials have been so successful that its backers have promised no-limit funding.

"Sapphire's interdisciplinary team hit milestones within three months that everyone thought were impossible. We realized at that point we could change the world, so we sat them down and told them, 'the chequebook is completely open; tell us what you need'," said Robert Nelsen, managing director of ARCH Venture Partners, one of the companies that has ploughed money into Sapphire.

Full report here

Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature's way again