Waste-to-biofuels company, Enerkem, has raised C$50 million in financing bringing the total equity investment raised by the company in 2013 to C$87 million. As part of this financing, institutional fund Investissement Québec joins existing investors Waste Management of Canada, Rho Ventures, Braemar Energy Ventures, The Westly Group, Cycle Capital, Fonds de solidarité FTQ and Fondaction, who each increased their investment in Enerkem with this new equity financing round.

Investissement Québec, as a mandatary for the Government of Québec, is one of the largest institutional investors in Canada. Through structural investments, it supports the growth of innovative companies with a global competitive edge and the potential to accelerate the transition to a green manufacturing economy.

“This strategic investment by Investissement Québec will help us leverage and strengthen our capacity to build and assemble the various modules of our facilities through the network of local and high quality shops we are currently working with,” said Vincent Chornet, president and chief executive officer of Enerkem. “As we are finalizing the construction of the Enerkem Alberta Biofuels facility in Edmonton and developing our next facilities, we take this new corporate equity investment as a vote of confidence in Enerkem’s growth strategy.”

According to Quebec Premier Pauline Marois, “climate change, the dwindling supply of hydrocarbons and other environmental challenges have made it necessary to rethink our very lifestyles, not to mention the way we transport people and goods. By redefining our economic approach and adapting it to 21st-century realities, we can make Quebec one of the greenest and most prosperous regions of the planet. Enerkem is living proof that biofuels can be a wonderful opportunity for economic growth. Enerkem’s projects not only create jobs but also reduce the carbon footprint left by our transport systems, and they can clearly have a beneficial effect on our balance of trade.”