AMYRIS BIOTECHNOLOGIES RAISES $20 MILLION IN SERIES A FUNDING; APPOINTS JOHN G. MELO CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER - Synthetic Biology Pioneer Expands into Bioenergy Field

Amyris Biotechnologies, Inc., a privately-held company applying advances in synthetic biology to produce high-value pharmaceuticals, fine chemicals and biofuels, today announced that the company has raised $20 million in a first round of venture funding. The financing was led by Khosla Ventures, with additional participation from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB), and Texas Pacific Group Ventures (TPGV). The company also announced the appointment of John G. Melo, previously president of U.S. Fuels Operations for BP plc., as chief executive officer. Also joining the Amyris board at this time are Samir Kaul, general partner, Khosla Ventures; John Doerr, general partner, KPCB; and Geoff Duyk, managing director, TPGV.

"Greentech could be the largest economic opportunity of the 21st Century," said John Doerr of KPCB. "Novel renewable energy sources will be key. John Melo is the perfect CEO to help Amyris innovate and lead in renewable fuels. His experience in developing the fuel business strategy for BP, running a multi-billion dollar fuel operation and early commercial success with ethanol will bring insights, relationships and skills that are highly complementary to the deep technical talent of the Amyris founding team. We are very excited to have John on board."

Mr. Melo stated, "I am excited about this opportunity to join a company that is using cutting- edge tools in chemistry and biology to develop solutions for major world problems, and look forward to guiding Amyris' expansion into new areas, including polymers, specialty chemicals and nutraceuticals, in addition to biofuels."

In his position as president of U.S. Fuels Operations, the largest marketing operating unit in bp, Mr. Melo successfully led business transformation efforts, increasing marketing volumes, reducing costs and significantly improving financial returns. During his eight years with bp, he also was chief information officer of the Refining and Marketing Segment, senior advisor for e-business strategy to Lord Browne, BP's group chief executive; and director, Global Brand Development, where he worked on the development of BP's "Helios" re-branding. Previously, Mr. Melo was a director with Ernst & Young in San Jose, California, and a management team member for several Northern California start-ups, including Computer Aided Services and Alldata Corporation.

"The completion of this financing validates the strength of Amyris' core technology and signals an important step in the company's growth. These new resources will enable the company to expand its capabilities to address major global health and energy challenges, thereby helping to fulfill the promise of synthetic biology," stated Jay D. Keasling, Ph.D., an Amyris founder, head of the company's Scientific Advisory Board, and University of California, Berkeley, professor of chemical engineering and bioengineering. "In addition to its ongoing focus on creating a low-cost malaria drug, Amyris will add a new program aimed at renewably producing second-generation, high-performance biofuels with increased cost-effectiveness."

Amyris Biotechnologies uses synthetic biology techniques to create new metabolic pathways in industrial microbes, turning them into living chemical factories for the efficient production of novel or rare chemicals. Amyris' primary project to date has focused on the use of synthetic biology to address supply and cost constraints limiting the use of the life-saving anti-malarial drug, artemisinin. In late 2004, Amyris joined the University of California, Berkeley, and the Institute for One World Health (iOWH) in a unique, three-way partnership to address the critical need in the developing world for a cost-effective malaria treatment. In the collaboration, Amyris is developing an industrial-scale process for the production of artemisinin, coupling highly-engineered microbial production systems to novel synthetic chemistry. The methodologies developed during this important ongoing project will translate to the ability of Amyris to deliver a wide variety of compounds to world markets.

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