People in here seem to have some challenges in accepting that the NOTC price is not followed by the board (or the largest investors). Right now the NOTC just fulfills the role to transfer shares based on anything.
Most investors since start, back to 2015-2017 have 14-16 in cost price per share, the capital raise April 2023 was done at 14, and the short term this year was also done at 14,- and even the convertible is done at 14,- (if you ignore the discount in converting loan to pref shares).
Preferred stocks aside, they are the default in the global VC game, and they are default from the first round. CrayoNano just got them now because some investors are willing to not dump the price and steal the company, and thats why they ask for at least getting the pri to get potential win first. All types of shareholders have been given the same opportunity to participate in the round, at the same ratio (pro rata). I would say this is fair.
If you think building a global deep tech company is a linear process isolated from world events, then you should not invest in such cases, and stick to index funds.