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Gerbsman Partners – Maximizing Enterprise Value – partial industry and client summary

Posted in "Date Certain M&A Process", Blog of Intellectual Capital, Board Of Intellectual Capital, Distressed Intellectual Property, Distressed IP, Gerbsman Partners, Inetellectual Property, Intellectual capital, Investments, Uncategorized, Venture Capital on January 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

San Francisco, January, 2013
Gerbsman Partners – Maximizing Enterprise Value – partial industry and client summary
Gerbsman Partners focuses on maximizing enterprise value for stakeholders and shareholders in under-performing, under-capitalized and under-valued companies and their Intellectual Property. Since 2001, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in maximizing value for 75 technology, life science and medical device companies and their Intellectual Property and has restructured/terminated over $810 million of real estate executory contracts and equipment lease/sub-debt obligations. Since inception in 1980, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in over $2.3 billion of financings, restructurings and M&A Transactions.

Gerbsman Partners has offices and strategic alliances in San Francisco, New York, McLean, VA/DC, Orange County, Boston, Europe and Israel.

Technology – IP

Software

Emergent Game Technologies Inc – Licensed and supported 3D/game software.

Capital Thinking – Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) platform, a credit and risk management software solution for the financial services industry.

Cesura – Web and on demand business software.

Conformia Software Inc. – Software solutions for highly regulated process industries – Life Science.

deNovis – Enterprise software for government health and health insurance industry.

Aperion Inc. – Software.

Gentiae Inc. – Real-time fully automated processing of cardiac safety input and core lab operations. The system offers a comprehensive, real time web portal for sponsor and site access.

Banquet – Interactive sports entertainment.

ID Engines Inc. – Role-based access control (RBAC) across enterprise networks.

InDplay Inc. – Online, B2B video content distribution (monetization) platform, deployed on enterprise-quality software components, served in the SaaS (software-as-a-service) model.

Metreo Inc. – Pricing software for manufacturers and distributors.

Neohapsis Inc. – IT management services platform.

Zone4Play – Interactive game technology.

Roots Web, Inc. – Geneology software.

StreamSearch, Inc. – Multimedia aggregator that has created a unique solution for indexing, locating, promoting, and distributing rich media on the Internet.

Technion University – Technology patents

Teranode Corporation – Business intelligence and lab automation solutions for the Life Science market.

USA Democracy, Inc. – Direct, verifiable, credible communications between elected representatives and their constituents through its non-partisan legislative-based website.

Utility.com, Inc. – Multi-utility eCommerce/eCRM technology, Web-based energy management technology.

Vcommerce, Inc. – Developed, deployed, and operated fully integrated, end-to-end supply chain execution systems and direct fulfillment infrastructure.

Intelectron, Inc. – Commercial lighting technology.

Skunk Technologies – Java based technology.

Telecom

Dialpad, Inc. – Web-to-phone service.

Simpler Networks, Inc./Hercules Technology Growth Capital – Telco software – a matrix switch platform that sits within the Telco’s central office (CO) or street cabinets. Developed to allow for universal access to any service, the system’s protocol-transparent design allows it to be placed in front of any existing or future access gear that delivers services over the local loop
Storage

Cornice Inc. – Storage and flash controllers.

PhaseMetrics Inc. – Storage systems manufacturer.

Plasmon, Inc. – Data archival storage technology
Networking/Optical Networking

CipherMax, Inc. – Storage networking.

Private Networks, Inc. – Broadband multicast delivery system utilizing digital satellite technology. The technology has universal applicability to many industries for distribution of high-band data and video.

Teak Technologies Inc. – Internet switching and gateway networking products.

Zeus Communications, Inc. – Hardware architecture of 10 Gbps IPSec VPN and firewall in a single board.

Optivia, Inc & Hercules Technology Growth Capital – Optical transport systems.

Princeton Lightwave, Inc. – Optical networking technology

T-Networks, Inc. – Optical networking components.

Transparent Networks, Inc. – Wavelength Selective Switch, a high performance large scale Photonic cross-connect functional prototype, detailed design and simulation validation of a Light Path Exchange with integrated DWDM, an HDTV display mirror array high level design and simulation, proprietary and unique MEMS design and validation engineering tools.

Network Photonics, Inc.

Cambridge NanoTech, Inc.- Materials Science company that developed high Performance turnkey equipment for Atomic Layer Deposition (“ALD”).
Mobile

eBiz mobility – Mobile business payment

YPS Software – ASP and software vendor for the PC and mobile phone industries, Mobile Entertainment Centre.

Teleflip – Mobile messaging.
Media/Advertising/Internet

Active Response Group Inc. – On line marketing company.

Akimbo Inc. – Monitizing on line media.

Competition Accessories, Inc. – Online direct marketing.

Gallery Player Inc. – Provider and distributor of high-value, rights managed high definition imagery for high definition televisions.

MeMedia Inc. – Online advertising solutions provider and ad network that delivers contextually and behaviorally targeted advertisements across a multi-modal network of websites and desktop applications.

MyWire Inc. – Paid content and advertising.

NebuAd, Inc. – Online advertising model. Next-generation digital media technology and solutions.

Holographic & Biometric Technology

Aprilis, Inc./Dow Corning – Holographic Data Storage Drives and Biometric Secuirty Systems
Security

NeoScale Inc. – Storage encryption and key management solution for organizations securing information stored on tape and disk media.

Oviso Inc. – Semi conductor manufacturing equipment.

SciCortex, Inc. – Manufacturer of high performance computers.

Medical Device

Cardiovascular, Vascular, Endoscopy

Cardiomind inc. – Stent delivery platform.

OmniSonics Medical Technologies Inc. – Vascular disease IP.

InnerPulse Inc. – Cardiac rhythm management (CRM) medical device company.

Myocor Inc. – Developing innovative cardiac reshaping devices to treat functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) and left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, both of which are significant in the progression of congestive heart failure (CHF).

NDO Surgical, Inc. – Flexible endoscopy technologies that enable surgical procedures through the bodys natural openings.

Viacor Inc. – Cardiac implant device for the treatment of functional mitral regurgitation.

XTENT Inc. – Customizable drug eluting stent systems for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Spine

Applied Spine Technologies Inc – Screw based dynamic stabilization system validated with Class 1 clinical data

Emphasis Medical Inc. – Endobronchial valves for the treatment of heterogeneous emphysema.
Orthopeadics

NovaLign Orthopedic Inc. – Long bone fracture, intramedullary nail technology.
Opthomology

Optobionics – Retinal degeneration.

Refractec, Inc – Radiofrequency (RF) device called ViewPoint CK System, used to perform NearVisionSM CK (Conductive Keratoplasty) treatment
Obesity

Satiety Inc. – Obesity product

Life Science

Pluristem, Inc. – Stem cell research – Israel company

Barnev Inc. – Monitoring Systems, Labor Israel company.

Pegasus Biologics Inc. – Developed and is commercializing a revolutionary bioscaffold comprised of highly organized collagen, sourced from equine pericardium that encourages the healing process by addressing the demands of a challenging biological environment.

Radiant Medical, Inc. – Endovascular therapeutic cooling.

Valentis, Inc. – Biotechnology company with small molecule, antibody, protein, gene and manufacturing assets.
Solar

Nanosolar

AQT Solar

SVTC Solar

GERBSMAN PARTNERS
Email: steve@gerbsmanpartners.com
Web: http://www.gerbsmanpartners.com
BLOG of Intellectual Capital: blog.gerbsmanpartners.com
Skype: thegerbs

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Successful “Date Certain M&A” of Materials Science company, its Assets and Intellectual Property

Posted in "Date Certain M&A Process", Atomic Layer Deposition, Cambridge NanoTech, Date Certain M&A, Distressed Intellectual Property, Distressed IP, Gerbsman Partners, Inetellectual Property, James McHugh- McHugh & Co., Technology, Venture Capital on January 2, 2013| Leave a Comment »

San Francisco, January, 2013
Successful “Date Certain M&A” of Materials Science company, its Assets and Intellectual Property
Steven R. Gerbsman, Principal of Gerbsman Partners (http://gerbsmanpartners.com)and James McHugh, a member of Gerbsman Partners Board of Intellectual Capital, announced today their success in maximizing stakeholder value for a materials science company. The company designed, developed and manufactured high performance turnkey equipment for Atomic Layer Deposition (“ALD”).

Gerbsman Partners provided Crisis Management and Investment Banking leadership, facilitated the sale of the business unit’s assets and its associated Intellectual Property. Due to market conditions, Board of Directors and the Senior Lender made the strategic decision to maximize the value of the business unit and Intellectual Property.

Gerbsman Partners provided leadership to the company with:

1.  Crisis Management and technology domain expertise in developing the strategic action plans for maximizing value of the business unit, Intellectual Property and assets;
2.  Proven domain expertise in maximizing the value of the business unit and Intellectual Property through a Gerbsman Partners targeted and proprietary “Date Certain M&A Process”;
3.  The ability to “Manage the Process” among potential Acquirers, Lawyers, Creditors Management and Advisors;
4.  The proven ability to “Drive” toward successful closure for all parties at interest.
About Gerbsman Partners

Gerbsman Partners focuses on maximizing enterprise value for stakeholders and shareholders in under-performing, under-capitalized and under-valued companies and their Intellectual Property. Since 2001, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in maximizing value for 75 Technology, Life Science and Medical Device companies and their Intellectual Property and has restructured/terminated over $810 million of real estate executory contracts and equipment lease/sub-debt obligations. Since inception in 1980, Gerbsman Partners has been involved in over $2.3 billion of financings, restructurings and M&A transactions.

Gerbsman Partners has offices and strategic alliances in Boston, New York, Washington, DC, San Francisco, Orange County, Europe and Israel. For additional information please visit http://www.gerbsmanpartners.com or Gerbsman Partners blog.

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Daily Report: Wallflowers of Silicon Valley Get Asked to Dance – New York Times

Posted in Inetellectual Property, New York Times, Silicon Valley, Technology, Venture Capital on December 20, 2012| Leave a Comment »

December 12, 2012, 9:03 am Comment

Daily Report: Wallflowers of Silicon Valley Get Asked to Dance

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

After years of being wallflowers at Silicon Valley’s hottest tech conferences and Sean Parker’s after-parties, enterprise technology firms are now part of the “in” crowd.

The flameouts of social media stocks over the last year have left venture capital firms searching for a more measured approach to investing, writes Nicole Perlroth of The New York Times.

That means technology sectors — including mobile security, data analytics and storage companies and mobile payment systems — which previously elicited a shrug or a snooze, are suddenly finding millions of dollars of investments coming at them.

Some of the hottest innovations are in large-scale data mining. With the right analytical tools, big data can be used to solve complex problems quickly.

New storage methods will be critical to harnessing the gigabytes of data now pouring in from those mobile devices, as well as the Web, social networks and video.

Increasingly, employees are taking sensitive corporate data home with them, frustrated with the limits of corporate technology and using their personal phones and tablets to work. That has created huge security and compliance headaches for chief information officers struggling to regain control over corporate data.

It may not be the end of paper money just yet, but more and more commercial products are making mobile payments a huge business.

Apps, with the proverbial “touch of a button,” have converted phones into urban remote controls, allowing customers to order meals, errands, car rides, concert tickets and even cocktails.

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Venture Financing Forecast for 2013: Partly Cloudy With Lower Chance of Success -Venture Capital Dispatch

Posted in Inetellectual Property, Investments, Technology, Venture Capital, Venture Capital Dispatch, Venture Wire on December 19, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Venture Financing Forecast for 2013: Partly Cloudy With Lower Chance of Success

By Russ Garland

Concerns that Series A rounds will be hard to come by in 2013 are widespread in the venture business, according to a survey being released today.

Forty-five percent of venture capitalists think this will be the most difficult financing to obtain, according to a survey of venture capitalists and startup chief executives by Dow Jones VentureSource and the National Venture Capital Association. That reflects an ongoing debate in the industry about whether seed-stage investors have financed too many consumer Internet startups that will now have trouble tapping the venture capital they need to grow.

Only 13% of the VC respondents said seed/angel financing would be the hardest to get in 2013 while 28% thought it would be Series B financing. The survey, conducted from Nov. 26 to Dec. 7, collected responses from more than 600 venture investors and CEOs of venture-backed startups. Responses were equally divided between the two groups.

A plurality of CEOs-42%–thought it would be more difficult to raise follow-on financing in 2013 versus this year; 36% said it would be the same difficulty and 22% said it would be less difficult.

Nonetheless, 67% of the CEOs said their company will raise additional capital in 2013. And 78% of them thought their company’s valuation would increase. But VCs were less sanguine–38% said valuations in their portfolio would decrease in 2013 compared with 2012.

VCs and CEOs were also of different minds when it came to forecasting the amount of U.S. venture investment next year. Venture capitalists were pessimistic, with 47% saying it would decrease, while 30% of CEOs said it would decrease.

VC attitudes are probably shaped by the frosty fundraising landscape. Of the respondents, 44% said venture capital fundraising would contract in 2013 with less money raised by fewer funds. Another 42% said it would concentrate with more money raised by fewer funds.

“Overall quality of companies is increasing; VC will continue to contract but overall achieve better quality,” said one of the respondents, Derek Small, CEO and president of drug developer Naurex, which this week announced it had raised $38 million in Series B financing.

VCs were upbeat about fund performance, with half of them expecting venture capital returns to improve in 2013. Most VCs predicted that the IPO market would be at least as good as this year, with 40% saying there would be more IPOs than in 2012 and 52% saying the quality would be higher.

Sandy Miller of Institutional Venture Partners said, “2013 should see a sustained good IPO environment rather than the starts and stops of recent years. All the ingredients are in place.”

Such optimism about the IPO market was another point of disagreement between VCs and CEOs, however, as just 29% of CEOs expect the number of IPOs to increase and 37% say the quality will be higher. The two groups agreed, however, that there would be more acquisitions next year of venture-backed companies, with 62% of each group predicting an increase.

Venture investors expect a pickup in business IT and health-care IT investing in 2013, with 61% and 57% seeing increases in those sectors, respectively. Interest in consumer IT has ebbed, with 35% of VCs forecasting an investment increase and 40% foreseeing a decline.

“The B2B tech private company valuation bubble will grow and then pop in October,” predicted Scott Maxwell of OpenView Venture Partners.

VentureSource is a research unit of VentureWire publisher Dow Jones & Co.

Write to Russ Garland at russell.garland@dowjones.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RussGarland

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Venture capital for startups hard to get

Posted in Board Of Intellectual Capital, Business models, Economy, Entrepreneurship, Gerbsman Partners, International Finance, internet, Investments, IPO news, Market research, Social Networks, Startups, Strategy, Venture Capital, Venturebeat, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on December 12, 2012| Leave a Comment »

Article from SFGate.

It’s suddenly a lot harder for venture capitalists and startups to raise funds, as investors fed up with low returns turn their backs on the sector.

Most industry observers agree that lots of young firms will simply not be able to raise their next round of funding, commencing a period of belt tightening, consolidation and closures. At a minimum, it seems to mark the beginning of a more level-headed investment climate in Silicon Valley, after years of insatiable lust for all things mobile and social.

But if the drop-off is too sudden and steep, this new austerity could spill over into an economy highly dependent on the tech sector. Indeed, as The Chronicle reported last week, the industry has an enormous impact, with each tech job creating 4.3 indirect jobs in the community, according to a Bay Area Council Economic Institute report.

The investors and venture capitalists I spoke to insisted that we’re not on the verge of anything like the dot-com meltdown, characterizing the shift as a minor and healthy correction, or a “rationalization.” One suggested it was little more than the usual process of separating good and bad ideas in the marketplace.

But the numbers suggest something new is afoot. In the third quarter, the amount that U.S. companies raised in venture capital dropped 32 percent from the prior year, according to Dow Jones VentureSource. Venture capital funds themselves raised 17 percent fewer dollars from the second to third quarter, even as the number of funds grew, according to a joint report from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association.

Economic uncertainty

Some partially blame the economic uncertainty surrounding the outcome of the election and the “fiscal cliff.” But the main problem seems to be that many of the “limited partners” that fund venture capital are pulling back after years of frustration.

Ever since a brief period in the late 1990s when venture capital burned bright, the industry has been delivering consistently weak returns on the whole.

In fact, despite requiring greater risks and larger capital outlays, venture capital has been underperforming the stock market over the past decade, according to a report this year by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Joe Dear, chief investment officer for CalPERS, told Reuters this summer that venture capital “has been the most disappointing asset class over the past 10 years as far as returns.” The huge pension fund for California’s public employees didn’t return repeated calls from The Chronicle.

Investment horizons have steadily spread out, from five to 10 to sometimes 15 years, as exit opportunities like acquisitions and initial public offerings fail to materialize. This has sometimes forced investors to put in more money to protect their initial funds.

‘Pretty grumpy’

“The industry definitely, for the last decade, has been a tough place to be,” said Ray Rothrock of Palo Alto venture capital firm Venrock. “We’re all pretty grumpy right now.”

Some of this is due to macroeconomic conditions outside the control of venture capitalists, notably the housing and banking crises. But at least some of it has to do with poor picks and herd mentality, funding companies with few real prospects and driving up the entry price for legitimately promising companies beyond what they could pay off.

“The market overfunded the number of companies in the system,” said Hans Swildens, founder of Industry Ventures in San Francisco. “There’s a glut.”

Even the grand promise of Web 2.0 companies that lured so much recent money hasn’t generated the hoped-for returns. The ones that managed to go public were often disappointments, including Facebook, Zynga and Groupon, in some cases leaving late-stage investors underwater on their holdings.

That was a final straw for some.

Last week, Forbes dug up figures from CB Insights that highlighted a wide and growing gap between the number of companies that raised initial funding and companies securing the follow-on investments, known as a Series A, generally necessary to keep going. This year, there have been 1,747 seed or angel rounds but only 688 Series A deals, underscoring the coming crunch.

Bad businesses

Based on as scientific a survey as the PR pitches in my inbox, there’s a tremendous number of silly, redundant and poorly executed companies out there that don’t warrant additional funding. The real problem isn’t that many of these companies won’t raise more money; it’s that they raised money in the first place.

For the venture capital industry to get back on track, it needs to embrace a renewed sense of discipline – on company picks, deal terms and total spending.

But hope springs eternal in Silicon Valley.

Rothrock stresses that the industry’s trend-line averages mask very strong results and ongoing investment at top firms, as well as growing venture capital activity among corporations like Google. Companies are just being more selective and looking beyond consumer Internet opportunities.

“We’re steady as she goes in terms of funding enterprise,” he said.

Secondary opportunity

Swildens oversees a secondary fund that buys shares from limited partners and venture firms looking to liquidate part of their holdings. He sees this period as a ripe opportunity for bold investors to get into promising companies at suddenly reasonable rates.

“Ours is one of the few firms aggressively putting money into these funds,” he said.

Mark Heesen, president of National Venture Capital Association, is similarly optimistic. He says the industry could be primed for a strong comeback in 2013, as long as the broader economy strengthens.

Above all, what the industry needs are some wins – acquisitions or initial public offerings that put investors clearly in the black and start to restore some lost confidence.

“If we see these exit markets start to generate good returns, I think you’ll see limited partners look at this asset class again,” he said.

James Temple is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: jtemple@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jtemple

Read more here.

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