3 years ago myself and another POET shareholder had an opportunity to meet with Suresh. It was one of a number of investor meetings he would have that day. One of the topics discussed was Rockley Photonics and what they were doing. RockIey was an example or kind of a benchmark to what silicon photonics was capable of. It was made very clear to us the advantages POET had over Rockley’s platform even at this early stage of development. A year later that discussion persisted with Vivek. People were trying to figure out how Rockley was able to justify the huge valuations and access so much funding. 

As it was explained to us Rockley had moved into sensing and away from datacom. Their efforts in data had failed and they were now focused on sensing.  

2021-03-19 07:00 ET - News Release

Rockley’s unique sensing platform enables continuous health and wellness monitoring of multiple biomarkers, paving the way for the next generation of consumer wearables and medical devices

Transaction will advance the commercial launch of Rockley’s transformational monitoring sensors and the development of commercial opportunities in personal health, medtech and beyond

Transaction values Rockley at a pro forma enterprise value of $1.2 billion

Transaction includes a fully committed $150 million PIPE, with participation from top-tier institutional investors including Senvest Management LLC and UBS O’Connor and participation from Medtronic

Founder Dr. Andrew Rickman, a pioneer in silicon photonics, will remain as CEO and Chairman

Built on its highly disruptive silicon photonics platform, Rockley’s “clinic-on-the-wrist” technology is….bla bla bla

Fast forward to today and we see that even with total funding of $225million Rockley has failed to deliver thus far on the promise of next generation sensing for medtech. And the stock now has a market cap of $386million with 128,746,000 shares outstanding. 

The point is Rockley obviously convinced some very big investors that they could bring an advanced technology in medtech to market at a price and timeframe that could not be met (and frankly I suspect may never be met).

What has POET achieved in a much shorter time frame and a small fraction of the price. The company remains very grounded with pretty clear expectations and clear technical successes. The funnel continues to grow.

And here is the thing POET can now talk to new investors and with analysts on solid development with milestones achieved including the uplisting to the NASDAQ.

Stay focused on the big picture people. The prospects and successes of this company continue to grow despite the trying times we are in.. The market is massive for POET’s platform and it has now been demonstrated for industry to see. 

I agree with Rainer. That post by SLAB was a masterpiece…you nailed it.