Biofuels and biochemicals company LS9 recently got a new CEO, and now it has a fresh pool of cash too.

The money raised will go to products &''ready&'' for commercial production, according to a company statement, which seems like a distinction from actually going into commercial production. LS9 opened a demo plant in Florida earlier this year (pictured). New CEO Ed Dineen told us earlier this month that he&'s planning to make a big push in Brazil and is also eyeing the strong developing economics of India and China. He&'s also looking to strengthen the companies partnerships, which currently include a deal to develop renewable chemicals for use in consumer goods with Procter &' Gamble and a deal with Chevron.

One of LS9a4��a4�s selling points is that it uses specially-engineered microbes capable of converting plant-based materials into fuels and chemicals��in just one step, compared to the multiple-phase processes of some of its competitors. It makes a line of fuels that are essentially direct petroleum substitutes and intended to be competitive with gasoline, but aren&'t commercially available yet.

a4��AWith this new round of funding, LS9 will be able to accelerate implementation of our plans to commercialize our technology and grow our product portfolio,a4��� Dineen said in a statement.

The company&'s fourth round of financing was led by global investment firm BlackRock and included previous investors Flagship Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and CTTV Investments, the venture capital arm of Chevron Technology Ventures.

Next Story: BrainAthlete monitors an athlete&'s mental state during sports activity Previous Story: Our favorite stocking stuffers for phones and tablets

Print Email Twitter Facebook Google Buzz LinkedIn Digg StumbleUpon Reddit Delicious Google More&8230'

Tags: biochemicals, biofuels

Companies: Blackrock, Chevron Technology Ventures, CTTV Investments, Flagship Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ls9

People: Ed Dineen

Tags: biochemicals, biofuels

Companies: Blackrock, Chevron Technology Ventures, CTTV Investments, Flagship Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Ls9

People: Ed Dineen

Iris Kuo is the VentureBeat's lead GreenBeat writer. She has reported for The Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong, Houston Chronicle, the McClatchy Washington Bureau and Dallas public radio. Iris attended the University of Texas at Dallas and lives in Houston. Follow Iris on Twitter @thestatuskuo (and yes, that's how you pronounce her last name).

VentureBeat has new weekly email newsletters. Stay on top of the news, and don't miss a beat.