A spinoff company from the Arizona State University, Heliae, revealed it had raised US$28.4 million in its latest funding round. Existing and new investors took part in the funding round. The capital will be employed to fund the operations and expansion plans of Heliae's first commercial center in Gilbert, Arizona.

"With Heliae's first commercial plant on schedule for startup in the third quarter, the company is in the final stages of proving the viability of our flexible Volaris^TM production platform and demonstrating economics at a commercial scale. The sustained support of existing investors, as well as the addition of new investors, demonstrates our momentum and continued success in scale-up," Chief Executive Officer and President of Heliae Dan Simon said.

Heliae has a platform solution that creates high-value products from algae called Volaris. The company's Volaris uses existing algae production models and both uses low-cost carbon feedstock and sunlight to maximize output.