A team of Pillsbury lawyers advised Chevron New Energies (CNE), a division of Chevron U.S.A. Inc., in its recent investment into Viridos, Inc., a leading algae biofuel company dedicated to creating sustainable, low-carbon, algae-based jet and diesel fuel.

The Series A financing, which totaled $25 million, was led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures with further participation from United Airlines Ventures and CNE.

Already achieving seven times the oil productivity compared to wild algae, Viridos expects to solve the heavy transport sector’s reliance on fossil fuels by leading the bioengineering of microalgae. Viridos efforts aim to establish a sustainable production of algae oil to become the feedstock of choice for sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel.

According to a company press release, Viridos intends to utilize funding for research and development to further increase algae oil productivity to reach commercially deployable levels.

Click here to view the full press release.

The Pillsbury deal team, which served as counsel to CNE, included Corporate counsel Paul Casas, Corporate partner Christina Pearson and Finance partner Alicia McKnight, along with Intellectual Property partner Ed Cavazos and senior associate Sandro Serra, and Corporate associate Olivia Fong.