MaRS makes its first foray into the cleantech spotlight

Toronto, Ontario-based Alternative Fuels says it has a new way to take waste that’s headed for landfills and profitably turn it into synthetic gasoline, jet fuel and bio-renewable chemical feedstocks—all without emissions.

The company’s Vice President of Business Development Michael Hepworth spoke today at the Cleantech Group’s Cleantech Forum XXIII in Boston as part of a showcase of startups seeking funding. But Alternative Fuels was just one of a lineup of early-stage startups being supported by MaRS, a nonprofit innovation center in Toronto’s downtown Discovery District that connects entrepreneurs with business skills, networks and capital to stimulate innovation and grow Canadian companies.

This week’s forum marked the organization’s first foray into the cleantech sector, said MaRS Venture Group Associate Kevin Downing. Downing said he wanted to connect cleantech-related companies in the MaRS portfolio that were “investment ready” with the forum’s audience.

“I don’t have a motive to push any one client over any other because they’re not paying me,” Downing said.

Of the 1,300 MaRS portfolio companies, he said the cleantech sector has been its fastest growing segment and an expanding sector in country as well (see Canadian cleantech looks to the future and IPO drought? Cleantech companies flood Canadian markets). Since 2006, cleantech and environmental technology companies have made up 9 percent of MaRS' portfolio.

MaRS currently has 350 active clients. The center isn’t government funded, but does receive some government support, he said. It has been funded through donations from the public and private sector, as well as revenue from its mixed-use facility. MaRS has the ability to provide some funding, around $40,000, to startups on a competitive basis.

Other companies showcased at the forum through MaRS included NIMtech, Real Tech, Vicicog and Skymeter.

Hepworth said Alternative Fuels’ technology takes energy from waste and catalytically coverts in into fuels and chemicals. Its products don’t contain sulpher or other nitrous compounds, and are produced with a large carbon offset. Carbon dioxide emissions that are produced from the process are converted into ethanol.

Alternative Fuels says its fuels have superior cold weather properties to biofuels, and the process also produces electricity that can be used to run the plant or sold to the grid.

The company is projecting revenue of $37.5 million come 2012. Hepworth is currently seeking $14.8 million from the capital markets in addition to government support to continue to scale the company’s technology.

Jason Kotler, an entrepreneur associated with Toronto, Ontario-based NIMTech pitched the company’s business model during the forum. He said NIMTech has a patent-pending tool, branded the SonicGauge, which has smart sensing technology that can “see” chemical reactions occurring inside of a pipe in real time.

“We can use that data to fine tune a factory to save energy,” he said. “We make factories more efficient.”

The company has secured $40,000 in funding from Lanxess, which manufactures products in the areas of chemicals, synthetic rubber and plastics. The manufacturer has also paid NIMTech for a feasibility study, and Kotler said he’s in the process of signing a letter of intent with them. The company has about 50 plants globally that could benefit from NIMTech’s technology.

“Lanxess is just the tip of the iceberg,” he said.

NIMTech is currently seeking $5 million to launch future projects and gain market traction.

Skymeter is pursuing smart meters for cars and trucks. The technology generates and can store data required for financial transactions by vehicles, such as road use, using a global positioning system (see Canadian startup takes a GPS approach to smart metering transport and Smart meters revolutionize transport in Europe).

Whitby, Ontario-based Real Tech CEO Jodi Glover said the company is seeking $1 million for its products, which it said meet the growing demands of the global water and waste water industry for more reliable, accurate and affordable organic testing solutions. Its analytical and monitoring instrumentation is primarily focused on ultraviolet light photometry for those industries.

Toronto, Ontario-based Vivicog President Paul Bottero said his company is seeking $5 million to commercialize its transmission system, which it says can improve the efficiency of any device with an engine or generator. The company says the system can improve fuel consumption of a mid-sized car by at least 15 percent as well as the reliability and improve wind turbine reliability and energy production.