Aseptia raises $6 million in funding

Aseptia, a Raleigh food processing company, has raised $6 million to expand its manufacturing capacity at its Montgomery County plant.

SJF Ventures, a Durham venture capital fund that invests in clean-tech businesses, was among the investors in Aseptia's third round of funding announced Tuesday. Aseptia previously raised $7.7 million from investors.

Aseptia opened a food-packaging facility that operates under the name Wright Foods in the Montgomery County town of Troy, about 75 miles west of Raleigh, in August.

The facility is producing fruit sauces, tomato products, vegetables, soups and beverages with a patented process that is touted as creating a better-testing product. The process involves rapid heating and rapid cooling in order to quickly kill the bacteria that cause foods to go bad and make people sick without killing the flavor.

"Aseptia has achieved commercial-scale production, allowing major food companies to both improve existing products and launch entirely new categories," David Greiest, managing partner at SJF, said in a statement.

Neither Aseptia nor SJF executives could be reached for additional comment.

In November 2011 the state announced that Aseptia was eligible to receive up to $150,000 in incentives if it met its three-year target of creating 75 jobs and investing more than $10 million at its Troy plant.