Buzz Archive:
Issues Facing Nanotech Companies Going Public: A Recap of an Executive Roundtable

by Andrew S. Baluch, Leon Radomsky, and Gabor Garai , 5/29/2007

While offering unique technological opportunities, nanotech companies today also face unique business challenges not seen in the life-science or telecom markets. Part of the difficulty in securing funding in the post-dot-com era is that nanotechnology's cross-cutting applications do not fall neatly into any known investment paradigm. Whereas an investor in the life-science space is comfortable assessing a biotech company's viability as it hits its regulatory approval milestones (even without revenues), the road to an IPO for a nanotech company is not as clearly defined. In addition, it is unknown whether nanotechnology will see fierce litigation over patents, as with biotech, or massive cross-licensing, as with electronics. When faced with these kinds of challenges, nanotech companies do what they do best: they get creative.

This week, Andrew Baluch, Managing Editor of Nanotechnology Law & Business, and two seasoned attorneys (Leon Radomsky and Gabor Garai of Foley & Lardner LLP) team up to bring provide us with a glimpse into what today's nanotech executives see as possible solutions to the business challenges in going public.