Vuzix Corporation,
Takes home the Gold. 
  

Vuzix Corp on Oprah Show
click here for video clip
  

Vuzix's newest eyewear product
Visit the site @ www.vuzix.com 

Member Spotlight

Watching the Olympics for the last few weeks I can’t help but make the comparison of a local business, Vuzix who has, taken home the Gold. The company has just completed a long arduous process (aka Olympic level training) to have the company transition from “private” to “public”. When I asked Paul Travers, President and CEO of Vuzix Corporation, why? Why was it important to pursue being a publicly traded company he’ll be quick to follow up by saying, “simple, Vuzix’ business is growing and as a result working capital is always challenging us.  By going public it allows Vuzix to get access to public funds and hence allows our business to grow.  The TSX Venture Exchange was a great choice because it caters to smaller companies that are going through their early stages of growth. "  (TSX is Canadians version of the US NASDAQ stock exchange) It took about a year to obtain the new status, but only a limited amount of businesses successfully complete it.
 
In a recent article, Some Factoids about the 2009 US IPO Market by
Jay R. Ritter a Cordell Professor of Finance at The University of Florida, he found that
On average, companies that went public in 2009 were more mature than in any prior year since before 1980. Since 1980, the average age of companies that went public was 8 years.
 
Ritter found that, in years where there are few IPOs, companies that go public tend to be more mature and, conversely, in boom years for IPOs, younger companies are able to go public. In addition the amount of companies going through the process increases dramatically.  
On average throughout the 1990’s approximately 500 companies per year went through the IPO process and those companies were on average 7 year old companies. There were only 41 IPOs in 2009, the lowest number (except for 2008) since before 1980.  Of the 41 companies that went public in 2009, the average age was 15 years (i.e., 15 years from founding to IPO). Vuzik has been in business 13 years. 
  
Great Work Vuzix et al. We are looking forward to having you as presenters at one of our upcoming HCC summer programs . 
 
Fast Facts
Year Founded: 1997
Number of employees: ~65
Web site address: www.vuzix.com
Two Locations: 75 Town center Drive & BHTL Rd.
Audiences: Worldwide defense/industrial, consumers, medical and entertainment sectors
 
 
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_31/b3945098.htm