Related LinksSpaceDailySearch SpaceDailySubscribe To SpaceDaily ExpressNANO TECHNano World Lawyers Key To NanoRevolutionNew York UPI 2004Nanotechnologists be pioneering science and engineering at the level of molecules venture capitalists play key role. DFJ is arguably the highestprofile nanotech firm, Serrato said, with highly visible nanotech investments such as SiWave.
Ardesta, which publishes the nanotechnology and microtechnology industry bible Small Times and created or invested in companies. military and the California Energy Commission. The company has made only five investments in nanotech so far, including Nanosys and NanoMateria, but their publications and pure focus on nanotech makes them lead investors on deals, even when other firms invest more money. Serrato and Maebius said key strategies that typify firms investing in nanotechnology include strong understanding of competing technologies that exist or in research pipelines, recognizing groundbreaking science, and appreciating the importance of intellectual property.
lot of nanotech companies are stuck in this situation where they well have promising technology, but in order to develop it further, its vital to have private equity, since its expensive to do this research and does take long time, Stephen Maebius, partner in the Washington office of Foley & Lardner and leader of the firms nanotechnology industry team, told UPIs nano World.
There are opportunities for other venturecapital firms to into this area. ARCH has clearly been leader in nanotech investments, Maebius said, such as Cambrios, the spinout from MIT with Angela Belcher, who recently won MacArthur Foundation genius grant for her pioneering research in organic methods to develop electronics and other nanotechnologies.
They also very active in many of the largest conventional venture firms also could be included on the list, including Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins. The NGEN model brings together an outstanding group of limited partners. Serrato considers the firm important, both because of its core technology focus on carbon nanotubes, but also because it represents the growing importance of global investments in nanotechnology. Do they, for instance, have connections to other collaborators that be good fits for this particular technology?
Harris & Harris Group. Because they are closely watched, their duediligence findings are the key to whether company gets funded. Its not always the big names in venture capital that end up funding some of the more prominent nanotech companies, Maebius noted. One is Konarka Technologies in Lowell, Mass., which is developing lightweight, flexible solar power panels with research contracts from the In addition, they have fartheroff potential for developing useful applications based on their technologies. Their growth would mark real focus by investors on nanotech since that is all they focus on.
