Rivertop Renewables, a Montana-based producer of novel chemicals derived from natural plant sugars, has raised $26 million from Cargill, First Green Partners and existing investors. Rivertop will leverage these funds and an existing manufacturing relationship to produce market development quantities of salts of glucaric acid for select customers.

In addition, the company will complete construction and begin operations at a semi-works facility at its headquarters in Missoula, where it will optimize its process for world-scale deployment. Rivertop plans to hire more than 20 employees in the next 12 months to support commercial development, effectively doubling the size of its workforce.

Rivertop’s initial focus will be on commercializing opportunities in the dishwasher detergent and corrosion inhibitor markets. The company will explore additional opportunities from among several large industries including home and personal care products, oil and gas, building and infrastructure, agriculture and food.

Access to applications in these markets is enabled by Rivertop’s platform technology which can utilize a range of sugars and sugar alcohols to produce the corresponding “sugar acids.” These sugar acids possess a range of properties and will be newly available to industry.