Chinese filament maker eSUN has become a popular filament, partially for the great prices the brand offers, but, before it was a filament manufacturer, Shenzhen Esun Industrial Co., Ltd. was producing materials more generally. Founded in 2002, the company manufactured what they consider environmentally friendly materials for the industrial market, jumping into the 3D printing space in 2007 with their own brand of filaments. Now, the material maker is ready to make the big leap into the stock market, gaining admission from China’s NEEAQ (National Equities Exchange and Quotations) to the New OTC Market on February 23, 2016.
China’s New OTC Market, established in 2012, is meant to add a further layer to the Chinese stock market where smaller businesses can trade without the same capital requirements as the Shanghai Stock Exchange. As is the case with OTC markets in the US, this also results in less scrutiny on the part of regulatory bodies, leading to abuse and fraud. For instance, last year, the Chinese government caught signs that price manipulation was taking place when one stock was seen trading as high as $16,145 per share. Since then, the government has claimed to crackdown on OTC stocks abuse, but OTC markets are notorious for such fraud.
That doesn’t meant that OTCs don’t have their fair share of success stories. Organovo, for instance, began on the pink sheets in the US before making its way into the big leagues of the NYSE. The bioprinting company has since 3D printed kidney and liver tissue, partnered with big names like Johnson & Johnson and L’Oreal, and has even spun out its own bioprinting materials firm. Hopefully for eSUN, the OTC will be a stepping stone to further legitimacy and success, particularly when the Chinese firm touts such a powerful message, “We believe that 21st is the era of biological economy, which can solve the oil crisis and environment pollution so that a genuine sustainable state could be reached.”
