Rivertop Renewables Announces $1.5 Million Investment From Cultivian Ventures

MISSOULA, MT--(Marketwire - Nov 3, 2011) - Rivertop Renewables (www.rivertop.com), a Montana-based renewable chemicals company, today announced a $1.5 million bridge round investment in the company from Cultivian Ventures (www.cultivianventures.com) -- a venture fund focused on high technology opportunities in the food and agricultural sectors. This funding will allow Rivertop to continue the commercialization of its first products -- sustainable, high performing, cost-competitive, bio-based detergent builders and corrosion inhibitors. It will also allow the company to expand their facilities for continued research and development as well as pre-commercial production.

"This investment carries us through a very important point in our company's development as we begin production and sales of our first renewable chemicals while also expanding our facilities to enable development of additional chemicals and products," said Jere Kolstad, President of Rivertop. "Cultivian's deep expertise in bio-based technologies makes them a perfect partner for us."

As part of the investment, Cultivian Co-Founder and Principal Ron Meeusen will join Rivertop's Board of Directors, adding further chemical industry expertise to the company. Meeusen has more than 30 years of experience in bringing new technologies and products to market, including having led one of the nation's earliest agrobiotechnology programs at Rohm & Haas Company (now Dow AgroSciences).

"Rivertop's capital-efficient technology, strong intellectual property, and its near-term ability to serve multi-billion dollar global markets made this an attractive investment for Cultivian," said Meeusen. "They have done a great job of bringing together a team of experts in the fields of renewable chemistry, industrial engineering, detergents, and corrosion inhibition that we believe will enable them to not only bring products to market quickly but also continue innovating the industry."

These funds will also allow Rivertop to continue to grow their presence and become the anchor tenant at the Montana Technology Enterprise Center (MonTEC), a business incubator for technology spin-outs from the University of Montana (UM) in Missoula. Rivertop's ongoing presence at MonTEC will create revenue, jobs, and education opportunities for UM graduate chemistry students.

Rivertop has developed a breakthrough technology to produce renewable chemicals in a scalable and cost-effective manner. The company's first products are salts of glucaric acid, a chemical which has been recognized by the Department of Energy (DOE) as one of the top 12 chemicals of the future made from renewable sources.

Rivertop initially plans to use its glucaric acid products as an effective and cost-competitive replacement for phosphates in the $10 billion global detergent market and the $8 billion corrosion and scale inhibition markets to protect industrial infrastructure without damaging water quality. Multiple longer-term opportunities exist in the company's research with advanced biodegradable polymers, adhesives, and other functional materials.

About Rivertop Renewables
Based in Missoula, Montana, Rivertop Renewables is innovating a new category of science -- Progressive Chemistry. Merging proven science with renewable resources, Rivertop Renewables is creating an abundant and economical supply of sustainable, biodegradable and non-toxic chemicals and bioproducts derived from renewable plant sugars.