Venture Update Vol. X, #7, July 2006
Done Deals
Raleigh – Nitronex Corp. (www.nitronex.com), a spin-out from N.C. State, has raised $21.8 million. The lead investor was Silicon Valley's Alloy Ventures. Arch Venture Partners, Diamondhead Ventures and Intersouth Partners also participated in the round. Returning investors included VantagePoint Venture Partners and Contender Capital. Contact Christopher Rauh (919.807.9100).
RTP – Hatteras Networks (www.hatterasnetworks.com), the Mid-Band Ethernet services specialist, has raised an addition $21 million in an oversubscribed round of equity financing. Globespan Capital Partners led the round that included all of Hatteras Networks’ current investment partners: Columbia Capital, ComVentures and Grotech Capital. Contact Richard Williams (919.554.3532)
RTP – Overture Networks (www.overturenetworks.com) has completed a $7.5 million third round of financing led by Telecommunications Development Fund. Morgenthaler Ventures, Intersouth Partners, Armada Ventures, Gray Ventures and Legend Ventures also participated in the round. The new funds will be used as growth capital to expand product development and customer support functions. Contact Chip Redden (919.337.4134).
RTP – Liquidia Technologies, Inc. (www.liquidia.com) has secured $6 million in Series A funding led by the Wakefield Group with additional funding from Firelake Capital Management, Siemens, and private investors, W. Lowry Caudill, Alfred Childers and William Starling. The funding will be used to make critical hires and to build out manufacturing capabilities. Contact Daria Stoltz (919.991.0835).
Raleigh – Visitar, Inc. (www.visitar.com) has secured $1 million in additional funding from Aurora Funds and NC IDEA. The new funds bring Visitar's first-round venture capital backing to $3.6 million. Contact Janet Holt (919.261.9828).
Raleigh – Linux provider Red Hat (www.redhat.com) has completed its acquisition of JBoss, Inc., the global leader in open source middleware. The acquisition transaction is valued at $420 million. JBoss will now operate as a division of Red Hat with a common business model of delivering and providing production support of open source software. Contact Leigh Day (919.754.3700).
Durham – StrikeIron Inc. (www.strikeiron.com) has acquired DesertSoft’s Web Services operating unit, for an undisclosed amount. As part of the acquisition StrikeIron will add DesertSoft’s eCommerce, CRM and online procurement Web Services to its growing marketplace. StrikeIron will also allow DesertSoft customers to take advantage of the StrikeIron Marketplace features. Contact Jane Foreman (919. 405.7010 x112).
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New Developments
Chapel Hill– The University of North Carolina System is among the recipients of $35 million in grants from The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The grants will be given to colleges and universities throughout the country as part of the second Kauffman Campuses Initiative to teach entrepreneurship. The grants will be combined with matching commitments from other financing partners and participating schools for a total of more than $200 million. Contact Michelle Keller (816.932.1024).
RTP – Affinergy (www.affinergy.com), a Duke University spinout with a proprietary site-specific biological delivery system, has received funding for three new SBIR grants. The grants are Phase 1 awards totaling more than $575,000. The grant awards will fund research in the areas of injectable growth factors, tendon healing, and click chemistry. Contact Peyton Anderson (919.345.4732).
Chapel Hill – American Data Mining Equipment has received a $100,000 Department of Energy phase 1 grant to further development of their proprietary database hardware. The work covered by the grant includes the creation of a software simulator, the execution of the Transaction Processing Council (TPC) suite of performance benchmarks and comparison of the simulation results. Contact Paul Duncan (919.341.0281).
RTP – The North Carolina Biotechnology Center(www.ncbiotech.org) has awarded a $37,500 grant to the City of Kannapolis through its Regional Development Grant Program. Funds will help the town conduct a study on, "Biotechnology Growth Strategy: NC Research Campus, Kannapolis and the Charlotte Region." The study, conducted in partnership with NorthEast Medical Center, will examine the potential impact of the NC Research Campus on Kannapolis, Cabarrus County and the entire Charlotte region. Contact Barry Teater (919.549.8814).
Raleigh – Misys Healthcare Systems (www.misyshealthcare.com) has launched the Center for Community Health Leadership, which will work locally to create communities for the advancement of healthcare IT through electronic health record (EHR) adoption improving patient care and operational efficiency. Misys reports that EHR adoption is the first step in creating an interconnected healthcare community. Contact Rick Foster (919.329.1558).
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On The Up
Precision BioSciences
Durham, NC
In the ongoing development of targeted genomic manipulation, Precision BioSciences, a Duke University spin-out and winner of CED’s 2006 FastTrac Tech Company of the Year, is at the forefront in the development of new methods to target and alter nearly any DNA sequence in a genome.
Precision BioSciences’ Gene Target Technology not only eliminates years of trial-and-error approaches to making DNA alterations but allows for customizable, specific DNA alterations to these sequences of genetic data.
Incorporated in January 2006 and closing its first round of financing the following month, Precision BioSciences is poised to immediately impact both the transgenic plant and plant-based pharmaceuticals markets.
Each time transgenic seed manufacturers seek to insert a specific trait into a plant, they dedicate years and millions of dollars towards each attempt. Precision BioSciences’ gene target technology will dramatically cut the time and cost of such operations by specifically inserting, knocking-out or altering desired genes.
In addition, the technology is applicable to a wide range of fields, from anti-virals and gene therapy to diagnostic and bio-terror defense applications.
Precision BioSciences’ platform technology offers specificity, customizability, efficiency and safety to its partners. By enabling the precise alteration of selected DNA sequences in human and plant genomes, the technology’s customizability allows it to be tailor-made for a customer’s specific genetic engineering application.
The technology also relies on rational design as opposed to resource-intensive screening procedures, rendering it more efficient in terms of time and money. Its ability to assure users that only the targeted genes, and no others, have been modified without introducing toxins, making Precision BioSciences an industry leader in safety.
Precision BioSciences’ Gene Target Technology is a unique DNA cutting tool that was created through the use and understanding of advanced protein design techniques. This tool enables the user to create a double-strand DNA break at a desired location in a genome and is essential in enabling rapid and precise targeting for true genetic modifications.
Precision BioSciences’ most exciting applications, however, will be that of anti-viral agents and gene therapy. With popular attention in recent years focused on viruses such as SARS and the Avian Flu, Precision BioSciences will utilize its Gene Target Technology to develop DNA anti-virals to attack difficult viruses such as HIV and herpes.
As the body of knowledge surrounding gene therapy continues to expand, Precision BioSciences will use its technology to help make safe gene therapy a medical reality. The technology may address diseases like Cystic Fibrosis and Sickle-Cell Anemia.
“Our near term goal is to remain focused on building and protecting our position as the leader in DNA targeting and alteration,” said CEO Matthew Kane. “The next several months should be very exciting as we are anticipating the successful completion of several projects that will further demonstrate the power of this technology.” Contact Matthew Kane (919.323.9118).
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In the Pipeline
RTP – Integrian, Inc. (www.integrian.com) was recently awarded a contract in Australia with the Victorian Government’s Department of Public Transport to provide train event recorder and vigilance control systems for the Department’s Comeng train fleet. The project is the result of a six-month trial conducted by the Department of Infrastructure. Contact Robin Potts (919.472.5022).
RTP – BioMachines, Inc. (www.bio-machines.com), a biotech company that develops, manufactures and sells advanced automation tools to accelerate drug discovery and development, has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with CapitalBio Corporation of Beijing, China to sell products in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The distribution deal will give BioMachines access to a pharmaceutical market expected to reach $24 billion by 2010. Contact Lucas Rugani (919.883.0012)
Durham – Icagen, Inc. (www.icagen.com) has initiated a safety, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics study of ICA-17043 in pediatric sickle cell disease patients. This pediatric study will be an open label, parallel group trial involving a total of 28 patients, ages six to 16, and will be conducted at up to eight academic medical centers across the U.S. Contact Richard Katz (919.941.5206).
Raleigh – Respirics Inc. (www.respirics.com) has commercially launched its product, MD Turbo, designed to solve two of the biggest problems facing patients with Asthma and COPD who use pressurized metered dose inhalers: the coordination of inhaler actuation with the patient’s inhalation and the accounting for how much medication is in the inhaler at any given time. MD Turbo will be marketed in the United States by TEAMM Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Accentia Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. Contact William Nadel (919.789.4220).
Cary – Cornerstone BioPharma (www.cornerstonebiopharma.com) has signed a co-promotion agreement with Athlon Pharmaceuticals. This agreement names the Alabama pharmaceuticals firm, Athlon, as a partner in the promotion of the pain medication, Balacet 325™. Under the terms of the agreement, Athlon Pharmaceuticals will take on marketing responsibilities to help Cornerstone promote and increase its sales of Balacet, which was approved by the FDA in May 2005. Contact Jonathan Jordan (919.557.7890).
Durham – Inspire Pharmaceuticals (www.inspirepharm.com) plans to file an Investigational New Drug (IND) application and begin Phase 2 clinical testing of intranasal epinastine for the treatment of seasonal allergic rhinitis, following the recent completion of a pre-IND meeting with the U.S. FDA. Inspire expects to submit the IND application for intranasal epinastine in the third quarter of 2006 and begin Phase 2 clinical testing by year-end 2006. Contact Jenny Kobin (919.941.9777 ext. 219).
Durham – Duke University will partner with Laboratory Corporation of America® Holdings (www.labcorp.com), in an effort to expand opportunities to offer new genomic tests. The new partnership will create the "Duke-LabCorp Scholars in Genomic Medicine" program. The program, led by Geoffrey S. Ginsburg of the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy, will support advanced research studies in specified clinical testing applications in genomic medicine which are currently being identified. Contact Pam Sherry (336.436.4855).
Cary – SAS (www.sas.com), a leader in business intelligence, has announced new genomic-analysis capabilities for its flagship life sciences offering, SAS® Drug Development. These new capabilities will make it easier for pharmaceutical companies to analyze genetic data and incorporate this analysis into new drug applications. Contact Dan Bain (919.531.9481).
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Mark Your Calendar!
CED’s Tech 2006
October 11, 2006
McKimmon Center
Raleigh, NC
For more information, call 919-549-7500.
Venture Update is published by the
Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)
an entrepreneurial support organization located in the Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Robert Albright, editor
P.O. Box 13353, RTP, NC 27709
Phone: 919-549-7500
FAX: 919-549-7405
email: news@cednc.org