CED's Entrepreneurs Community News

CED Chairman, Steve Wiehe, Selected Technology Executive of the Year.

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:01:25 -0500

Stephen Wiehe, CEO of SciQuest, was awarded Technology Executive of the Year at the 21st annual NTCA awards ceremony. Triangle-based SciQuest provides a wide variety of online procurement services. Wiehe, who took the company private in 2004, has since led the company to a compelling financial position by growing revenues and instilling fiscal responsibility.

SciQuest is a long time member of CED. Not only is Wiehe the acting chairman of CED's board of directors, but prior to his appointment, he contributed countless hours to the success of the organization, its programs and its people. He has participated on panel discussions sharing his expertise on issues from mergers and acquisitions to the role of the board of directors.

Digitalsmiths Raises an Additional $12 Million

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 10:23:39 -0500

Digitalsmiths, an RTP-based, video indexing and digital content publishing technology provider closed a $12 million dollar Series B round. The Aurora Funds, Chrysalis Ventures and .406 Ventures participated in the round. The new money will be used to accelerate product development initiatives.

Digitalsmiths joined CED in 2006. Since then the company's CEO, Ben Weinberger, has actively participated in CED programs. Weinberger pitched Digitalsmiths to investors at CED's Venture 2007 and 2008 conferences; he showcased their cutting edge technology at CED's Tech 2006 conference; and he participated as a panel speaker at CED's Venture Capital for Entrepreneurs series. Weinberger and co-founder, Matt Berry, were also on hand to receive an award for technology of the year at CED's Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards in 2008.

The Aurora Funds is a long time CED member and supporter. In addition to contributing to CED's Innovation to Impact campaign at the supporter level, the firm has been a perennial sponsor of CED's Venture, Biotech, and Tech conferences. Chrysalis Ventures is an active CED member and supporter. The firm joined CED in 2002 and has sponsored CED's Venture conference for the last four years.

CED Members Honored as Fast 50 Companies

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:57:00 -0500

Sixteen CED members were honored at the Triangle Business Journal's Fast 50 award ceremony. The rankings, determined by an analysis of three-year revenue and profit metrics, are performed by accounting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The CED members receiving awards for 2008 are: Bandwidth.com, Clarkston Consulting, VACO Raleigh LLC, Overture Networks, Hosted Solutions LLC, Campbell Alliance, Quintiles Transnational, Talecris Biotherapeutics, SciQuest, RTI International, ChannelAdvisor Corporation, Storr Office Environments Inc., Schooldude.com, PharmaLinkFHI Inc., MedThink Communications, and Greene Resources Inc.

PricewaterhouseCoopers is a long time CED member and supporter. In addition to participating in CED's Innovation to Impact campaign at the contributor level, the company has sponsored CED's Venture and Biotech conferences every year since 2005.

Geomagic Receives $8M Investment

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:28:33 -0500

Geomagic, a RTP-based software and services company, received an $8 million investment from Valhalla Partners. The company, a leader in digital shape sampling and processing (DSSP), will use the funds to develop innovative products and software platforms in engineering and medical markets, accelerate growth rates, and build a scalable business infrastructure.

Geomagic has been a CED member since 1999.

Arthur Pappas Elected Chairman of the NC Biotechnology Center

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 08:35:16 -0500

Arthur M. Pappas has been elected chairman of the North Carolina Biotechnology. Pappas founded RTP-based venture capital firm, Pappas Ventures in 1994. The firm manages more than $250 million, with investments in 40 companies.

Pappas Ventures is a long time CED member and supporter. In addition to contributing to the Innovation to Impact campaign at the supporter level, the firm has sponsored CED's Venture and Biotech conferences from 2005 to 2008 and the Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards from 2006 to 2008. Many of the firm employees, including Arthur Pappas, have volunteered time and expertise in the development of CED's programs.

CED Members Top NC Public Companies

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:48:11 -0500

Business NC revealed the top 75 public companies headquartered in North Carolina. Among the top 25, eight (8) are CED members including the top two: Bank of America and Wachovia. Also in the list are Duke Energy, BB&T, Progress Energy, Red Hat and Cree, Inc.

Cree Sales up 24%

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 10:22:18 -0500

Despite all signs indicating a slowing economy, Durham-based Cree, Inc. reported 24% revenue growth to $140.4 million. The company projects revenue continued growth despite uncertainties in the market based on ever increasing demand for energy efficient lighting.

Cree recently joined CED as a grantor level member.

Red Hat Acquires Qumranet for $107 Million

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 09:44:00 -0500

Red Hat, Inc., the leading provider of open source solutions, has acquired Israeli-based Qumranet, Inc. for $107 million. The acquisition includes Qumranet's virtualization solutions, including its KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) platform and SolidICE offering, a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), which together present a comprehensive virtualization platform for enterprise customers. This acquisition advances Red Hat's efforts to transform the virtualization market and drive comprehensive virtualization technology and management solutions into every system, from servers to desktops, on both Linux and Windows.

Red Hat, Inc. has been a CED member since 2004. The company sponsored CED's Globalization 2008 conference and CED's Tech Conference from 2005 through 2007.

iContact Secures $5 Million from North Atlantic Capital

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 15:46:32 -0500

Durham-based, iContact, the leading provider of on-demand email marketing services for small and mid-sized businesses secured $5 million in debt funding from North Atlantic Capital, a Maine-based venture capital firm. This new investment will be used primarily for sales and marketing to accelerate customer acquisition and to expand the team to support iContact's rapidly growing business.

iContact has been a CED member since 2005 and has continued to increase its support of the organization since. In addition to headline sponsorships for CED's Venture 2009, Venture 2008 and CED's 2008 Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards, CEO Ryan Allis is a member of CED's Board of Directors.

Pappas Ventures Co-leads $15 Million Series B Round in CeNeRx

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:46:38 -0500

Pappas Ventures, a Durham based venture capital firm, co-led a $15 million Series B round for CeNeRx BioPharma, a Cary-based, biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing innovative treatments for diseases of the central nervous system. This investment brings the total investment in CeNeRx to $33 million. The funds will be used for the phase II clinical trials of novel antidepressant Tyrima™.

Pappas Ventures has been an active CED member and supporter since 1996. In addition to contributing to CED's Innovation to Impact campaign at the supporter level, the company has sponsored CED's Biotech and Venture conferences and the Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards every year since 2005. CeNeRx CEO, Barry Brand, presented at CED's Venture 2007 conference.

SJF Invests in Clean Technology

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:43:53 -0500

SJF Ventures, a Durham-based venture capital firm focusing on the cleantech, technology-enhanced services and premium consumer products sectors, is investing $1.6 million in CleanScapes, a clean technology firm headquartered in Seattle. The SJF investment is part of a $10 million Series A round. The investment will aid CleanScapes in its mission to be recognized as the leader in socially responsible streetscape management and waste reduction, recycling and collection services.

SJF Ventures has been a CED member since 1996.

IBM Launches New Reseach Lab in Shanghai

Tue, 14 Oct 2008 11:27:27 -0500

IBM launched a new research lab in Shanghai in an effort to boost its R&D strength in one of the world's fastest growing countries. The IBM Shanghai research lab, located at Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Pudong New Area, will serve to help IBM attract more talent from southern China. In response to opening the new facility in Shanghai, John Kelly, IBM senior vice-president and director of IBM Research was quoted by WRAL LocalTechWire as saying, "The very nature of research is changing. It is more open, more global and more collaborative."

IBM has been a CED member since 2001. In addition to contributing to CED's Innovation to Impact campaign at the partner level, the company sponsored CED's Biotech and Venture conferences in 2005 and CED's Biotech and Infotech conferences in 2006. In November, IBM's John Kelly is speaking to a select group of triangle area business, government and educational leader at CED.

Transite Inks Deal with Ellman

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 08:21:00 -0500

Transite Technology, a Raleigh-based provider of logistic and shipping cost-management software and services, has signed a multiyear contract with Ellman International, a primary manufacturer of medical surgical devices. Transite technologies will be deployed to help lower Ellman's cost of product delivery to its customers in the United States, Europe and Asia. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Transite Technology has been a CED member since 2004.

BioMedomics Receives $750,000 Phase II SBIR Contract

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 09:33:47 -0500

Local biotechnology company, BioMedomics, received a $750,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the National Institutes of Health. The company was previously awarded a $25,000 North Carolina Biotechnology Center loan, and a $100,000 Phase I SBIR grant. BioMedomics will use the funds to demonstrate the scientific merit of its medical diagnostic technologies which include: reagents, assay instruments and data analysis tools targeting point-of-care personalized testing for specific disease biomarkers.

BioMedomics has been a member of CED since 2007. In addition to presenting at CED's Opportunity 2007 conference, company co-founder Frank Wang Ph.D., is a regular attendee of CED programs and events.

Cranky to Compete - Make Mine A Million $ Business

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 09:22:54 -0500

Barbra Denison of Cranky Creative Group was selected as one of the twenty business women finalists to compete for an awards package in the business growth program, Make Mine A Million $ Business. The event features female entrepreneurs from North and South Carolina who will compete for business development packages that include money, marketing, mentoring and technology assistance to help their businesses grow into million-dollar enterprises.

Cranky Creative Group is a relatively new member to CED, joining just this year. In June, Barbara and company vice president, Keoni Denison, took advantage of one of CED's premier programs, FastTrac® TechVenture™. Additionally, the company sponsored CED's Biotech 2008 conference.