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CERES announces growth financing for Emphysys, a powerhouse product development partner who is changing the future of R&D and new product development.  With specialties in medical devices, semiconductor equipment and industrial machinery, the company is comprised of a diverse group of professionals with extensive backgrounds in fundamental physics and complex engineering systems.

Today’s transformative age is blurring lines between economic sectors, while creating new and unique opportunities.  With this collision of industries, leaders in traditionally defined sectors are seizing opportunities to create new value for their customers and reshape their businesses.

Significant changes to Committee for Foreign Investment in US (CFIUS) review process expand its jurisdiction to new types of transactions and change the timeline and procedures for seeking approval for a transaction from CFIUS.

Buyers address the challenges of slower growth, an abundance of investment capital, advances in digital technologies and government intervention with M & A.  In addition to consolidation and scaling manufacturing operations in Asia, buyers are acquiring companies employing photonics technologies to open new markets, enhance capabilities and implement new business models.

$29B of $822B private placements worldwide goes to work commercializing and growing businesses with core photonics technology.  Communications, LED's, and solar attract the most investment.  Autonomous vehicles, 3D sensing, point-of-care medical diagnostics and AI powered imaging see the most activity.  With exception of smart architectural glass, investment in pure-play photonics lags.

Whether you are an entrepreneur starting-up or the leader of an established business, a solid understanding of the available sources of capital and today's expected rate of return for capital is the fundamental step in crafting a financing and fund raising strategy.

Precise practices vary between individual investors or lenders in a given category and change with market conditions. Identifying appropriate sources of capital and developing a fund raising strategy to tap them depends on knowing what kinds of investments investors and lenders are seeking.

Understanding today's country-specific cost of equity capital alongside industry dynamics help business valuation professionals advise clients in making better international investing, financing, and buy/sell decisions. A business identical in every way except the country in that it operates is valued differently by a buyer or investor depending on where that business operates. A buyer expects a higher return in exchange for the higher risk when acquiring a company that operates in a country that has higher financial, economic and/or political risk.

Why? Because whether planning to sell a business short term or long term, the costs of not capturing the value of intellectual capital are enormous - improper deal structures, lost financial opportunities, assumptions of greater execution risk, over/under payments for asset acquisitions. And without protection, a reasonable buyer would not pursue.