With its broad knowledge of the nanotech industry, the fund can help portfolio companies with general strategic and operational problems, as well as business and intellectual property strategy. It helps with executive recruiting, fundraising and compliance with Section 404 of the
Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Perhaps most importantly, it is in the position to build collaborations with strategic partners.
In the process of vetting this company, I spoke at length with the company’s CEO. I was pleased, by the way, to hear he had enjoyed reading some of our past issues of Breakthrough Technology Alert.
He took the time to explain the VC fund’s investment philosophy to my associate Ray Blanco and me. According to this CEO, the current team has grown from four to 11 members since 2002. Five have extensive VC experiences.
Additionally, team members have expertise in solid-state physicists, biochemistry and other technologies that intersect and converge with nanotechnology.
This team constantly monitors the world of nanotech. Additionally, it maintains contact with nanotech scientists in academia, where much cutting-edge research is taking place. While academic research is typically too early a stage for investors, these relationships allow the fund to identify important spinoffs as they occur.
We know that the long-term promise of nanotech is world changing. The immediate challenge for nanotech investors is finding companies in the commercialization stage. As I’ve explained, we at Breakthrough Technology Alert don’t mind getting in a little early, because the eventual returns will be so high. Investors do, however, want to know that their portfolios will maintain and increase in value while waiting for those eventual huge returns. Everyone at this unique venture capital fund clearly understands this need for liquidity.
The Only Publicly Traded Liquid Nanotech VC Firm
To my knowledge, this investment is the only truly liquid nanotech venture capital company available to stock buyers. Diversification is at the heart of its investment philosophy. It generally doesn’t put more than 5% of its gross assets in any single holding.
It also maintains large cash reserves as a means of counterbalancing the inherent risk of investing in young nanotech businesses that are not yet profitable. As its CEO says, the fund offers a "diversified way to play the emergence of nanotechnology - when most of the companies are still private - in a public vehicle."
Several of its holdings are, however, already earning significant revenues. Companies in the portfolio generated $242 million in revenue for 2008, a 22% increase over 2007. Other companies are on track to becoming revenue producers or to significantly increase revenues.
Since I recommended this unique venture capital fund to my readers last week, we’re already closing in on double-digit gains. If you want access to my full report on this stock – as well as new transformational technology stocks each month – visit the Breakthrough Technology Alert website.
Sincerely,
Patrick Cox
July 2, 2009
