Re: Nanotech startup

Forrest Bishop (forrestb@ix.netcom.com)
Sun, 25 May 1997 14:29:03 -0500 (CDT)


You wrote:
>
>I wrote Friday that I thought it would be a bad idea to invest in a startup
>doing R&D towards Drexlerian nanotech. At the time I was being completely
>hypothetical. However today I was browsing http://www.foresight.org, and
>I learned that exactly such a company started up last month!

Actually, Jin von Ehr made an announcement last October
at a Foresight meeting, and asked us to keep quiet for awhile.
It was a thrilling thing to hear.
What is new is an increased funding level. They intend to
generate more publicity later this summer.

>Zyvex, at http://www.zyvex.com/, is a Texas company whose mission is to
>develop the first assembler. They don't have a very clear timeline to when
>they will achieve it, although I saw "5+ years" mentioned.

They seem to be taking stock of possible routes and interim products.

>They aren't asking for funding on the page, but if anyone wants to ignore
>my advice I'm sure you could contact the company and find out if there would
>be any opportunities to participate in future funding rounds.

This may be, perhaps an IPO sometime, although it is
privately held at this time.

Forrest