Smart Investment - Managing Investment Trade-offs at SMART Photonics

SMART Photonics - a photonic chip maker - had been growing rapidly over the past 8 years. After successfully developing a technology to make complex photonic chips on a large scale, the company was set out to capture the market. The next step for the company was to start industrializing its manufacturing process for a growing number of global customers. To do so, the company needed to expand and optimize its production facilities. Johan Feenstra, SMART Photonics' CEO, was challenged to find investors that would enable the company to scale-up. For the funding round, he needed to find investor(s) that would not merely provide funds, but also would add strategic value, necessary for the company's expansion and capturing of new market share. Various parties entered the negotiation table and Feenstra now needed to decide which investor(s) would add the perfect mix of tangible and intangible resources. A large Asian investor with experience in SMART Photonics' market could offer valuable access to the promising customer network in Asia. On the other hand, various Dutch investors, with valuable local governmental and industrial ties, wanted to make an investment. Feenstra now needed to decide which investor(s) would be best to take on. While weighing his choices, he wondered which factors and interest he should take into account during the decision-making process and whether it was more advantageous to take on one or multiple investors at the same time?