Leader Ventures Provides $3 Million to LS9, the Renewable Petroleum Company(TM)

MENLO PARK, Calif., March 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Leader Ventures, an investment firm offering blended debt and equity financing, announced today that it has provided $3 million of equipment financing to LS9, a pioneer in the commercial development of hydrocarbon biofuels made from diverse renewable feedstocks.

"LS9's Renewable Petroleum(TM) technology has the potential to significantly reshape the transportation fuel market," said Patrick Gordan, managing director at Leader Ventures. "LS9 is pushing the envelope of synthetic and industrial biology and we are excited to support them," Gordan added.

LS9 DesignerBiofuels(TM) products are a family of fuels produced by specially-engineered microbes created via industrial synthetic biology. Starting from raw, natural sources of sugar such as sugar cane and cellulosic biomass, these renewable fuels will fundamentally change the biofuels landscape and set the stage for widespread product adoption and petroleum displacement. LS9 hydrocarbon biofuels have higher energetic content than ethanol or butanol and have fuel properties that are essentially indistinguishable from those of gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel.

About Leader Ventures:

Leader Ventures is a private investment firm providing blended debt and equity financing to a diversified portfolio of private and public companies. With offices in San Francisco and Menlo Park, the firm invests primarily in the U.S. and employs a variety of loan plus equity structures to invest in companies at different developmental stages, across diverse industry segments. For more information, please visit http://www.leaderventures.com.

     Leader Ventures Contact:
     Paulien Ruijssenaars
     831-685-2107
     paulien@ruijssenaars.com