Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund

Shares of biofuels and renewable chemicals company Gevo, Inc. (GEVO) are steady in mid-session trading today after rising 9.6 percent to close Wednesday at $16.44 for the company’s first day of trading on NASDAQ. On Tuesday, the company’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) raised $107.25 million with the sale of 7.15 million shares at $15 each.

Although the Obama Administration and many environmental organizations are diametrically opposed on the potential of “clean coal” and carbon capture and storage (CCS), venture capitalists are funding companies with a range of CCS technologies. 

Here are four venture-funded companies at the leading edge of “clean coal”: Calera Corporation, Novomer Inc., Akermin, Inc., and GreatPoint Energy.

So what’s up with the biofuels sector? Two biofuels companies last week filed unpriced initial public offerings (IPOs) with the Securities and Exchange Commission and a third did the same earlier this summer. A fourth biofuels company completed an IPO in April 2010.