Green Rubber Maker Lehigh Technologies Raises $16 Million

Lehigh Technologies Inc., which makes technology for reusing old tires, has raised another $16 million in venture capital that will be used for geography expansion and additional research and development.
The investors include Leaf Clean Energy, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Index Ventures, and NGP Energy Technology Partners.
"We believe Lehigh's approach breaks existing paradigms of how we perceive post-consumer and post-industrial materials, fundamentally changing how they can be used in the production of new products," says Ellen Pao of Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers and a Lehigh board member. 
Founded in 2003, Lehigh makes an engineered rubber powder that can offset a significant percentage of the oil needed to manufacture many synthetic rubber and other petrochemical products. It does this by grinding rubber from recycled scrap tiers into an ultrafine power.
It takes about 9.5 gallons of petroleum to make the various petrochemicals that comprise just one tire. Every pound of Lehigh's material saves nearly a gallon of oil and accounts for about half the carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions of traditional alternatives.
Lehigh's customers include some of the largest tire manufacturers in the world and more than 100 million tires have been made, so far, using the material. It is shooting for a goal of 1 billion.
"A key element that motivates industrial customers to buy sustainable materials is to provide a solution that does not sacrifice quality, safety, cost, or performance of the end product," says Leaf Clean Energy Vice President Matthew Fedors. "Throughout its market segments, Lehigh's technology position allows the company to achieve this goal."