In addition to our general experience in venture capital and nanotechnology, we have specific scientific, business, financial, intellectual property and start-up experience that benefits our portfolio companies and co-investors.
Nanotechnology Ecosystem
We have invested in over 50 companies focused exclusively on commercializing nanotechnology innovations. As an active investor, we maintain close relations with the management teams of our companies, thus learning about emerging technology and market trends as well as key industry developments and pain points. Our knowledge of where to find needed technical, manufacturing and intellectual property for our portfolio companies is one of our competitive advantages. We readily share Harris & Harris Group's network of contacts with our portfolio companies, helping them identify and recruit executives, engineering talent and experienced independent boards of directors.
The five members of our deal team have between us four Ph.D. degrees with specific training in nanotechnology, one M.B.A. degree and one master's degree in economics. We have specific technical expertise in intellectual property, as well as scientific expertise in materials science, solid-state physics, physical chemistry, biochemical engineering and genetics.
We also have first-hand experience in running a publicly traded company, raising capital in the public markets, and implementing, and compliance with, Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002.
Syndication Partners
Harris & Harris Group has co-invested with many venture capital firms and strategic (corporate) investors from across the world. We have often invested alongside many of these firms in more than one portfolio company.
Intellectual Property Expertise
Most of our portfolio companies have their roots in universities and government research labs. We have helped spin out companies from Harvard, MIT, CalTech, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and supported spin-offs from UC Berkeley, Princeton, UCLA, UCSB, UT Austin, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, etc. Our team members have prior work experience in technology commercialization offices, and we actively assist our portfolio companies with negotiations of licensing agreements.
Relationships with Global 2000 Companies
Remaining focused in making nanotechnology investments, we have worked and co-invested with major healthcare, chemical, electronics and semiconductor companies. Our active Rolodex includes Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Novartis, Dow Chemical, DuPont, AirProducts, Rohm & Haas, ATMI, Sumitomo Chemical, Mitsui Chemical, BASF, Degussa, Eastman Chemical, Eastman Kodak, Bayer Specialty Materials, Schlumberger, Coherent, Halliburton and BP. We have made introductions for our portfolio companies to a wide range of industrial and semiconductor companies, including Intel, IBM, Micron, Samsung, Hitachi, Toshiba, NEC, NTT, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, SANYO, Motorola, Raytheon, Honeywell, Boeing, International Rectifier, Cabot, Cargill, ChevronTexaco, BMW, Infineon, KLA-Tencor, Tokyo Electron and ASML.