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When biodiesel developer Imperium Renewables Inc. recently
pulled a high-profile IPO, hopes
for quick liquidity for early investors were dashed, but it left the company with greater flexibility in future financing. The latest large funding round for a
solar developer shows a company demonstrating a middle course of investing in making its technology more valuable, but retaining flexibility for future development. NanoGram Corp. was built solidly on the licensing model, having
been created as the IP holder for thin-film technology in a
three-way split of NeoPhotonics Corp. in 1994. NanoGram Devices and
NeoPhotonics Corp. were created at the time as product companies and licensees
of NanoGram, but NanoGram itself retained rights to further licensing, and
initiated potentially huge partnerships with developers of batteries, flat
panel displays, solid state lighting and myriad other applications. After
raising more than $26 million to build facilities to create prototype products
for others to license, however, the company's solar applications have proved to be so
valuable in the current climate that it may shift its business model. NanoGram's early-stage investors--ATA Ventures, Nth
Power Technologies, Bay Partners, Harris
& Harris Group, Institutional Venture Partners, Rather than commit whole-hog to massive internal development of solar products
and potentially risk diluting bets on the core technology, NanoGram's new $32
million round will advance the company's solar portfolio only to the stage
where it can determine a future course of licensing or internal development.
The company is betting that within a year it will be able to build a pilot
plant for less costly solar modules using its proprietary materials. NanoGram's
global strategic partners coming aboard in the current round include
manufacturing and development entities Global Cleantech Capital,
Masdar Clean Tech Fund, Nanostart AG, Mitsui Ventures,
Nagase & Co., TEL Venture Capital and Yasuda Enterprise Development.
While these investors were chosen for their ability to help the company eventually expand
on a pilot plant financed with the current round to build a vertical solar
products development company, they also could be key partners in wringing the most out of a licensing
strategy with that plant serving as a design prototype. - Clifford Carlsen See Jan. 18, 2006 story from TheDeal.com See Jan. 4 post from Tech Confidential See Jan. 15 story from TheDeal.com For more see Nanowerk, earth2tech and Extra Technology News
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