Ceres Inc. raised $75 million to fund research and product development of biofuel crops. Private equity firm Warburg Pincus led the financing round for Thousand Oaks-based Ceres. The funding is a validation of the company’s growth plans, said Ceres President and CEO Richard Hamilton. “We now have the resources we need to expand the scale of our commercialization efforts, and the independence to broadly collaborate with downstream players in the transportation fuel industry,” Hamilton said. Warburg Pincus has a long track record of investing in energy, alternative energy and renewables.