Previous investors, including investment bank Goldman Sachs, had reportedly provided $450m to Bloom.

Mascoma's largest corporate shareholders are SunOpta, Valero and General Motors.

Molycorp has provided the wind energy company with a substantial amount of series B investment alongside existing investor NEA.

The renewable energy company acquires competitor Coastal Supply, after obtaining an extra $1.3m in funding four days before.

General Compression, which counts energy companies Duke and ConocoPhillips among its backers, has attracted more funding to take its series B round to $60m.

Solyndra bankruptcy protection filing comes after failure to secure bridge financing from the US Department of Energy and other backers in late August.

The chapter 11 filing of Solyndra, comes as Virgin Green, an affiliate of UK-based conglomerate Virgin, is attempting to raise its second private equity fund.