Clean Air Partners Raises $8.6 Million in Latest Round of Venture Funding
SAN DIEGO--March 12, 2003--New Investment to Finance Continuing Product and Market Expansion
Clean Air Partners, a leader in the development and commercialization of high-tech solutions to reduce emissions from mobile and stationary engines, announced today that it has closed its second round of venture capital funding in the amount of $8.6 million. CIBC Capital Partners, Emerson Electric Co., EnerTech Capital, Exelon Capital Partners, Nth Power, and RBC Capital Partners invested in Clean Air Partners to finance ongoing product and market expansion for low emission vehicle, electric distributed generation, and oil and gas application products.
"Emerson's continuing investment in Clean Air Partners reflects our satisfaction with the management team's progress and continued business improvements under very difficult market conditions," stated Dr. Randall Ledford, president of Emerson Ventures.
"We're extremely pleased with the vote of confidence from our investors as well as the depth of experience that they bring to Clean Air Partners," stated Daniel W. Kabel, Clean Air Partners' chief executive officer. "Over the past 12 months, we have made significant strides in the acceptance of our patented Dual-Fuel(TM) technology for medium and heavy-duty truck engines in the U.S., Mexico, Europe and Japan. We have achieved several sales milestones and gained new customers including United Parcel Service, SYSCO Foods, The City of Los Angeles and other organizations that are concerned about low emissions and the economic advantages and flexibility of Dual-Fuel."
"Our activities in the electric power generation market are developing nicely," continued Kabel. "We see a significant potential for our technology, and recently commissioned the first commercial 1.6 MW power module with the Clean Air Partners' Dual-Fuel system. Along with our acquisition last year of an exhaust after-treatment company and other next-generation emissions reduction technologies under development, Clean Air Partners has become a leader in the development and supply of emissions reduction solutions."
The company's impressive technological expertise contributed directly to securing the $8.6 million of blue chip funding which will further advance the introduction of products based on Clean Air Partners' Dual-Fuel, MicroPilot(R) after-treatment and gas injector technologies. Previously, Clean Air Partners received $26 million from its current investors from their first round of venture funding in July 2001.
Clean Air Partners has developed as one of its cornerstones, proprietary and patented technologies for lowering diesel engine exhaust emissions by conversion to alternative and dual fuel sources. The company has focused principally on natural gas, in either the "Compressed" (CNG) or "Liquid" (LNG) state, as a primary fuel source. Using only a small amount of diesel fuel as a "liquid spark plug" the modified diesel engines produce equivalent horsepower, while burning mostly natural gas. The Dual-Fuel engines produce substantially less Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) and particulates than an engine burning diesel fuel alone without sacrificing diesel-like performance.
For more information about Clean Air Partners and their Dual-Fuel technology, visit www.cleanairpartners.com.
Clean Air Partners was founded in 1991 to develop technologies that would allow diesel engines to operate with the low emissions benefits of natural gas while retaining the power, efficiency, longevity, and cost effectiveness of compression ignition engines. Since that time, Clean Air Partners has broadened its scope to include a wider range of diesel and natural gas emissions reduction technologies and applications. Clean Air Partners' time proven products, based on proprietary technologies from 38 active patents, are operating globally: thousands of low emission vehicle and industrial systems utilizing the company's technology are in service today. Clean Air Partners' sub-components are used in low emission vehicles produced by some of the world's largest automotive and truck manufacturers. For more information about Clean Air Partners and its technologies, visit www.cleanairpartners.com.