Press Release
Contact:
Robert Albright |
Phone:
919-549-7500 ext.123 |
20th Venture Conference Highlights Investment Opportunities
CED's Venture 2003 Attracts National Investors, Highlights Growth of Venture Investing in the State
April 23, 2003, Research Triangle Park, NC - The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) hosted its 20th Venture conference Tuesday and Wednesday with over 275 attending investors and 852 people participating in total. The two-day conference, held at The Friday Center in Chapel Hill, showcased North Carolina's strongest innovation-based, venture investment opportunities to investors, service professionals, entrepreneurs and others involved in the entrepreneurial funding process from throughout the United States.
Venture 2003 included presentations from 24 of the state's most promising private companies. In addition, the conference featured panel discussions and an all-star cast of speakers. Eliot Spitzer, New York's Attorney General and the nation's leading crusader for corporate reform, together with Robert Ingram, Vice Chair of Pharmaceuticals and former COO of GlaxoSmithKline, provided keynote remarks. Other speakers included venture capitalist and Fortune columnist Stewart Alsop and Duke University's men's head basketball coach and best-selling author Mike Krzyzewski.
Chris Matton, a partner with Kilpatrick Stockton and co-chair of Venture 2003, said he was encouraged how successfully the region is leveraging its research assets, as seen by the 10 university spinouts among the conference's 24 presenting companies.
"The presenting companies and top-notch speakers are indicators of North Carolina's firm, fertile entrepreneurial community," Matton said. "Through the state's strong infrastructure support, the region is coming into its own in terms of commercializing its powerful research reputation."
Steve Nelson, a partner with the Wakefield Group and co-chair of Venture 2003, said CED's Venture conference symbolized the growth and potential of venture financing in the region.
"This is the time for North Carolina, with its diversity of industries, to do well," Nelson said. "The quality and sheer number of investors this year at Venture 2003 indicate North Carolina's growing reputation as one of the next great places to start and grow a business."
About CED: The Council for Entrepreneurial Development, located in Research Triangle Park, NC, is a private, non-profit organization formed in 1984 to stimulate the creation and growth of high-impact companies in the greater Research Triangle region. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, seminars, workshops and monthly programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. CED is the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 4,000 members representing 1,100 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms. www.cednc.org