jjz34: The funding question is a hard one to put a finger on. I will say however that the answers seem to be consistent. Here is what I have heard over the last year.
VC companies or equipment mfgs., etc. can invest in companies who also have great ideas, but already have a product on the market, so they reduce their risk greatly on the little money they are willing to invest at this time by putting it into those companies.
Teleco's don't invest in companies like NV.
RIM has had many offers for money, but everyone wants control, and are not at all concerned with the shareholders getting screwed. Most of the people with money, know that the majority of the OTBB companies that need money can be bought for pennies on the dollar if they are just patient.
The Mercatus deal is a large amount for the final companies in the mix. They all get funding in one package. It is a new structure, so there is no standard paperwork, and everything has to be created new. All of the attorneys that get paid hourly are not necessarily in a hurry, and all documents have to be scrutinized in depth by all attorneys involved. Mercatus is still spending their own money, and pursuing this deal vigorously, and still intend on bringing it to fruition. This deal won't work for U.S. Banks because they can't count the shares in escrow on their balance sheet as an asset, but the European banks can.
They are pursuing a number of different financing options, and continue to look for more funding sources, until the ones necessary to succeed are completed.
Ray and Brad are very committed to keeping shareholder value from being decimated by funding deals.
That is about as much as I know, and who knows for sure if that really represents an accurate picture. I think it is at least somewhat accurate.
AI
