0816_TOEFL-Test-and-Score-Manual-1997

Develop and Launch New Products and Services ● 131
Irvine, California–based company that sells high-purity chemicals isolated
from plants to companies making “smart food” with vitamins and
supplements.
ChromaDex connected with Bayer through yet2.com, a leading
technology marketplace. At the time, ChromaDex had 12 employees and
annual sales under $10 million. Making a deal with Bayer, which has
117,000 employees and operates 350 individual companies on all continents,
would have been impossible without an intermediary.
Jaksch went online to find a test to detect minute amounts of bacteria
in food and nutritional supplements. His searched yielded information
about a bioluminescent toxicity screen made by Bayer. The test, developed
by Bayer for internal use, was exactly what Jaksch needed.
“One of the ways to develop new products is to find out what other
people have done, rather than creating things on your own,” said Jaksch.
“We worked it out so we didn’t have to outlay any cash and Bayer took
a stake in our company,” he explained. “We looked at the Bayer deal as a
new method to raise capital.”
Better yet, Bayer AG took a 10 percent stake in his company and a seat
on his board of directors. “A company like Bayer is not going to take a deal
like this lightly, so it says a lot about us and our credibility.”
When we spoke a few years ago, Ralf Du Jardin, manager of new
business development for Bayer AG, said posting information about its
toxicity screen online “led us to a fast-growing innovative company, ready
to extract the added-value from the R&D efforts we have pursued with our
technology in the food market segment. . . . We agreed on an equity-based
license so both of us could benefit from ChromaDex’s product development
and expanding portfolio of customers.”
The company that made the match was founded by the late Chris De
Bleser and Ben DuPont in 1999. Tim Bernstein, COO of yet2.com, said
the entrepreneurs raised $1.5 million in private angel funds to get started.
They’ve since raised money from Procter & Gamble, Siemens, Honeywell,
DuPont, Caterpillar, and NTT Leasing. The privately held company has
offices in the United States, Europe, and Japan.
The web site now has over 140,000 registered users, including many of
the Fortune 500 and over 17,000 smaller technology companies. The company
also works with 327 “broker partners” to help source deals.