Chart Venture Partners perspective on dual-use CBRNE technologies

摘要

Chart Venture Partners' (CVP) approach to investing in Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, andExplosives (CBRNE) detection technologies can be best understood in the context of the uniquepartnership between the firm's two founding institutions. CVP was founded as a partnership between theChart Group, a New York-based merchant banking and venture capital boutique, and InSitechIncorporated, a 501 non-profit commercial partnership intermediary for the U.S. Army's ArmamentResearch Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) at Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey. Thepartnership between Chart Group and Insitech has yielded a new investment model. Unlike most venturefunds, CVP operates with a singular focus on early-stage defense and security technologies, with theimportant caveat that everything we invest in must also have dual-use application in large-scale commercialmarkets. CVP believes that early-stage CBRNE companies require five qualities to be viable investmentcandidates and successful start-up companies: Great Science, Strong IP Positions, Recognized ScientificChampions, Identified Dual-Use Market Pull, and "Real World" Technical Performance Data. When early-stage CBRNE companies decide to seek venture capital and pursue higher growth dual-use businessmodels, we often find that certain issues arise that are not always fully contemplated at the outset, and thatcan create gaps between what the start-up companies are offering to investors and what those investors areseeking from their potential portfolio companies. These same issues can have significant positive ornegative impact on shareholder value over time, depending on how they are managed. Specifically, start-ups should consider carefully their strategies related to business development, market Xositioning, government funding, and investment syndicate formation.