Oorja Protonics, alcohol-based fuel cell company, gets $15M

March 14, 2007 | Matt Marshall

Oorja Protonics, a secretive Fremont, Calif. start-up developing fuel cell systems that run on alcohols like methanold and ethanol, has just raised $15 million in a second round of funding, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Week.

Alcohol-based fuel cells are still in the early stage of development, but they’ve already been introduced for commercial use in laptops, camcorders, MP3 players, mobile phones, and other devices. There’s an overview in the Space Review, which among other things, mentions potential application of these fuel cells in space.

The company raised $5.52 million from Sequoia Capital last year, which we mentioned was a first sign that Sequoia is turning attention to the alternative energy sector. This time, it brings in two of its “coat-tail” investors, DAG Ventures and Artis Capital.

DAG has made a business of partnering with other high profile investors, and investing alongside them even if DAG has to invest a little later. Artis is a hedge funds with close (family) ties with Sequoia. McKenna Capital also invested.

Update: Sunil Paul is also an investor.

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About the Author, Matt Marshall

Matt launched VentureBeat in September of 2006, with the realization that no one else was covering the entrepreneurial and tech innovation scene with the velocity or depth that he was. Prior to founding VentureBeat, he covered venture capital for the San Jose Mercury News from 2001 to 2006. In 2002, Matt was awarded "Journalist of the Year" by the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists. Prior to working at the Merc, he was a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Bonn, Germany from 1995 to 1998, and a writer for the Washington Post in 1994. Matt holds a PhD in Government and an MA in German and European Studies from Georgetown University. In addition to VentureBeat, Matt is also the Executive Producer of DEMO, the leading launchpad event for emerging technologies.