Rivertop Renewables

About Rivertop Renewables

Rivertop Renewables, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Missoula, Montana, operated as a producer of renewable chemicals derived from plant-based sugars. The company was formerly known as Montana Renewables, Inc. According to market data, the company is now considered deadpooled.

The foundational science for Rivertop Renewables originated from the work of Dr. Donald E. Kiely. His research, which began in 1968, focused on creating biodegradable polymers from glucaric acid. A significant hurdle was the high cost of glucaric acid, which made commercial applications unfeasible. While at the University of Montana, Dr. Kiely and his research team developed a cost-effective and scalable platform technology to produce a family of biodegradable chemicals from plant sugars, which formed the core intellectual property for Rivertop Renewables. Dr. Kiely, who holds a PhD in Organic Chemistry, has a background as a chemistry faculty member at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and later as a Professor and Director of the Shafizadeh Center for Wood and Carbohydrate Chemistry at the University of Montana. Jason Kiely, a co-founder, played leadership roles in business and brand development after a career in community and environmental organizing.

Rivertop Renewables aimed to replace petroleum-based chemicals with bio-based alternatives, targeting large industrial and consumer markets. The company's business model involved producing and selling these green chemicals to formulators and manufacturers. The core of their operation was a proprietary oxidation technology platform that could convert various plant sugars into sugar acids, such as glucaric acid, which the U.S. Department of Energy recognized as a key chemical for the future. The company's revenue generation was based on the sale of its chemical products. By 2018, the company had a reported revenue range of $1.5M to $2M and had between 15 and 19 employees.

The company developed branded products for specific applications. One of its main products was Riose™, a detergent builder designed to improve the performance of automatic dishwashing detergents by replacing phosphates. Another key product was Headwaters™, a corrosion inhibitor that significantly reduced rust on steel, intended for applications like road de-icing brines to protect infrastructure and vehicles. These products were based on salts of glucaric acid. The company scaled its production from the lab to pilot manufacturing by contracting with DTI, a custom chemical manufacturer in Virginia, and was constructing a semi-works facility at its Missoula headquarters. Over its lifetime, Rivertop Renewables raised a total of $48.2M in funding over 12 rounds. A significant funding round in April 2014 raised $26 million from investors including Cargill and First Green Partners.