This is NOT investment advice. Investing in startups is risky whether it is via StartEngine or any of the other platforms. Liquidity may or may not be an option for an extended period of time.
Let's see if we can toss out a few names on a monthly basis for people to debate and evaluate and see if this is useful. At times, we have only one name or zero.
The types of firms that typically catch our attention are generally based on seeking a potential "bet a little, win a lot" approach where we seek potential "winner takes all or most" outcomes. We tend to focus on those and avoid battles with low barriers to entry UNLESS the firm is simply executing at a very high level and clearly advancing to a few different potential exits.
First, a couple of recent posts here on this platform:
When Will Bitcoin For A Bottom?
The Submerge - Ether Merge Debacle
What Will It Take For A New Bull Market to Emerge
Here is what made it through our screening. We committed to screening these monthly and this is the result of the screening for this month. Some of these are repeat names, and that is the way it is. We don't chase new ones simply to pull the trigger. We would rather add to winners.
**ALERT** - a firm we placed a modest bet has gone public. FibroBiologics raised on StartEngine and listed on Nasdaq at the end of January, 2024. We will publish a post on the experience of dealing with stock transfers, getting access to the shares, etc. eventually. FBLG.
Cytonics - OA new method going at the guts of Osteo-Arthritis. Is this a Zero to One? OA never treated this way. Interesting. They recently gained permission to manufacture as well. They put this out there as well which caught our attention for sure in terms of cash flow and capital preservation:
Through exclusive agreements with two independent manufacturers (one operating in the human market and the other in the veterinary space) we have secured over $4M in license acquisition fees and royalties through 2029, with guaranteed royalty minimums of $400,000 annually, providing stable and non-dilutive capital to fund our research and development of CYT-108.
Here is an update:
🎊 Breakthrough Milestone
We are overjoyed to share a transformative milestone in our quest to redefine osteoarthritis treatment – the approval of our clinical trial registration (NCT06263270) by ClinicalTrials.gov. This pivotal moment propels us closer to our goal of delivering innovative, effective therapies to those battling osteoarthritis. As we embark on this crucial phase, your unwavering support fuels our commitment to health innovation!
Raise is humming along above $2.5M for a CF not bad at all. They are closing it as well soon so must be ready to move forward.
Some familiar names mentioned previously still live on the board or upcoming -
AtomBeam - We've commented extensively already about this opportunity. Our entry is 8M. A+ on the way. CEO says Space Force and Air Force begging them to hustle through Phase II stuff to get the money for Phase III. Phase III's can be $15M+ EACH.
TimePlast - commented many times previously, A+ looming.
Psyonic - Coming back looks like.
PSYONIC continues to grow and thrive. 2023 was our best year ever, and we’re thrilled to share some details:
- Sales revenues totaled more than $1.5 million. That’s 50 percent growth over 2022.
- The third quarter of 2023 was the best sales quarter in our history – until the fourth quarter came along. We earned more than $560,000 in sales revenue in Q4. That’s 25 percent growth over Q3 of 2023, and 90 percent growth over Q4 of 2022!
- Our rate of production tripled. We can now build about six Ability Hands per week.
- We also tripled our staff. We're now 21 people strong and hiring a few additional people in a variety of roles.
- Top universities like MIT, Berkeley, and ETH Zurich bought Ability Hands.
- Some of the biggest manufacturing, robotics, and logistics companies in the world bought Ability Hands, moving us firmly into the $6 billion humanoid robotics industry. We can’t name them all because we’re under NDA with some of them, but they include Apptronik, Figure AI, and Hexagon.
- A giant brain-machine interface company is working with the Ability Hand. (Again, we can’t share the name.) So are brain-machine interface researchers at universities throughout the United States.
- We were hard at work on what would be the largest federal grant we’ve ever received, which would drive bionic technology for years to come. We hope to announce details on that mid-2024.
NerdFocus - If you are open to retail and beverages, they have momentum and perhaps an edge and angle on the saturated energy drink space. There are exits in this space if they do well Monster or someone will be sniffing around. Not our favorite cup of tea retail or food but intriguing.
