Venture
Update Vol IV, #6, June, 2000
Durham—Intersouth Partners (www.intersouth.com), a venture capital fund that focuses on early-stage investment in the information technology and life science industries, had a final closing of $175 million for its fifth venture fund, Intersouth Partners V. Contact: Mitch Mumma (919.493.6640).
Research Triangle Park—Paradigm Genetics, Inc. (www.paradigmgenetics.com), a developer of a proprietary functional genomics system that integrates gene discovery, gene function determination and sold 6 million shares of common stock in its initial public offering on May 5, 2000. Underwriters purchased an additional 750,000 shares at the $7.00 per share IPO cost ultimately raising a total of $47.25. The offering was made through an underwriter group led by Chase H&Q, with J.P Morgan, Pacific Growth Equities and Stephens Inc. acting as co-managers. Contact: Ian Howes (919.544.5578).
Cary—LIPSinc (www.lipsinc.com/), developer of complete solutions for the creation and delivery of animated rich media content for Web-based business and personal communication raised $9 million in Second Funding Round.Belgium's Flanders Language Valley Fund,Mellon Ventures Inc. and TriState Investors Group participated. Contact: Michael Zapata (919.468.7005)
Durham—Usendit.com, Inc. (www.usendit.com), a developer of digital file transmission and storage solutions, closed on $5 million in mezzanine financing in May 2000. Investors included Southeast Interactive Technology Funds. Contact: Kevin Pollard (919.405.2585).
Chapel Hill—Pozen Inc., a virtual drug development company that finds and develops cost-effective pharmaceuticals on a global basis, filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The lead underwriter is U.S. Bancorp Jaffray. Contact: John Plachetka (919.490.0012).
Raleigh—HowStuffWorks.com (www.howstuffworks.com), a developer of an online magazine, received $4.5 million in second round financing in May 2000 from Centennial Fund, Internet.com and Southeast Interactive Technology Funds. Contact: Marshall Brain (919.882.5000).
Raleigh—LastFoot.com (www.lastfoot.com), a provider of software applications and network desktop services, formed an agreement to merge with Austin-based TreLOS, a provider of the Win4Lin software package, in a share-for-share stock trade worth an undisclosed amount. The new company will provide business and home computer users with access to desktop applications, files, storage and security via the Internet. Contact: Alan Boyd (919.844.0540).
Raleigh—Nitronex (www.nitronex.com), a developer of gallium nitride PENDEOTM material for use in the semiconductor industry, received $3 million in venture financing from Alliance Technology Ventures in May 2000. Contact: Bob Lynch (919.807.9100).
Cary—Raleigh Technology Corp., a developer of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), raised $500,000 in seed financing from Longleaf Venture Fund in May 2000. Contact: (919.678.0050).
Durham—BlueBolt Networks (www.blueboltnetworks.com), a developer of a business-to-business search engine and e-commerce site for the professional interior design industry, received $2.5 million in first round venture financing in May 2000 from the Wakefield Group, Gray Ventures and private investors. Contact: Lori Eichel (919.969.6679).
Raleigh—Report2Web Corp. (www.report2web.com), a developer of software that automates the Web distribution of reports produced by mainframes, client/server and PC applications, merged with California-based Redwood America, Inc. to become Redwood Software in May 2000. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Contact: Genece Hamby (919.787.5464).
Cary—SAS Institute (www.sas.com), the world's largest privately held software company and a developer of Web-enabled data warehousing and decision support, has spun off its first business-to-business Internet company, iBiomatics LLC,.IBiomatics, a wholly owned subsidiary of SAS Institute, unifies anonymous data and knowledge about specific drug projects and makes it available through secure Internet portals. Contact: Pamela Meek, (919.677.8000).
Charlotte—Verian Technologies (www.verian.com), a provider of electronic procurement automation solutions, received $13 million in equity financing in May 2000. The round was led by Technology Crossover Ventures and included Allegra Partners. Contact: Robin Johnston (704.547.7301).
Charlotte—ePlaced.com (www.eplaced.com), a Web-based provider of personnel services for contract professionals, raised $2.5 million in Series A financing in May 2000. Contact: Mindy Felcman (704.362.0790).
New Developments
Research Triangle Park—Red Hat, Inc. (www.redhat.com), a
developer of open source Internet infrastructure
solutions, has formed Red Hat Ventures, a division to
support Open Source and Internet infrastructure
startups through direct venture funding and strategic
business relationships with Red Hat. Red Hat, which
has already invested in Open Source-related startups
like Sendmail Inc., Rackspace.com, techies.com,
ZoneTrader.com and e-smith, will accelerate its
investment activity through Red Hat Ventures. The
division plans to invest $500,000-$2,000,000 in new
companies. Red Hat Ventures will be jointly managed
by Matthew Szulik, president and CEO; Harold Covert,
Chief Financial Officer; and Howard Jacobson,
director of corporate development. Contact: Teresa
Spangler (919.547.0012).
Cary—Relativity Technologies, Inc. (www.relativity.com), a developer software for legacy to e-Business transformation solutions, will supply its RescueWare® solutions and services to the U.S. Air Force to transform and Web-enable its mission-critical systems for e-Business. Contact: Lisa Goldbaum (212.808.6522).
Chapel Hill—Extensibility, Inc. (www.extensibility.com), a developer of XML schema management solutions, has formed a technology and marketing partnership with SoftQuad Software, Ltd., a developer of XML enabling technologies and commerce solutions for e-business. Under the partnership, SoftQuad's XMetaL, a content creation solution, will be integrated with a fully functional trial version of Extensibility's XML AuthorityTM, a schema design and management solution. Contact: Reid Conrad (919.969.6500).
Research Triangle Park—The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (www.cednc.org) has selected two companies to present at the STREAK luncheon for early stage investors on June 8, 2000: Startemup, a company that has a plan to implement a scalable incubator model for university entrepreneurs and SAGEworks, a developer of a software solution that allows business owners to better understand their financial statements by converting the financial data to text.
On The
Up
PINPOINT
Judson Bowman and Taylor Brockman, graduates of the
N.C. School of Science & Mathematics, deferred
college to found Pinpoint - a new Web infrastructure
provider revolutionizing Web navigation.
"While attending a science institute at MIT," recalls Bowman, Pinpoint's president, "I began thinking of ways to improve search technology. When I returned to my senior year of high school, I discussed my ideas with Taylor Brockman [now CTO] and we began working on the technology in our dorm room."
RTP-based Pinpoint began commercial operations in September 1999. The company provides portals, mobile (wireless) portals, vortals, niche sites and businesses on the Web with topic-specific search solutions that intelligently anticipate the context of search queries and deliver meaningful results. Creating a unique search profile, Pinpoint creates a custom search engine tailored to the exact content and interests of their clients sites, which include Golf.com, Soccer.com, StartUpStreet.com and The American Kennel Club.
With mobile phones, Palm Pilots and other PDAs exploding on the horizon, Pinpoint is looking toward the wireless future. Last month, it launched the most comprehensive and accurate wireless search engine for Internet-capable wireless devices. "The wireless Web is the next frontier," notes Bowman. "We're pioneering the technology to make it easier to navigate for the hundreds of millions of people who will be wireless in the near future."
Last March, Pinpoint closed a round of $5 million in venture funding and expects to enter another round of funding in the second half of 2000.
Streak Luncheon
June 8, 2000
Noon - 1:30 p.m.
Holiday Inn, RTP
CED
Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards & Family Sunset
Carnival
June 22, 2000
5:30 - 8:30 p.m.
CED, RTP
SPRINGBOARD
2000: Mid-Atlantic
July 11-12, 2000
America Online's Seriff Auditorium in Dulles,
Virginia
Southeast Bio
Investors Forum
October 2-3, 2000
Friday Center, UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Research
Triangle InfoTech 2000
October 27
Friday Center, UNC-Chapel Hill, North Carolina
For more information about these events or to register, visit the CED Web site at www.cednc.org or call 919.549.7500.
CED is a private non-profit organization supported, in part, by corporate contributions, including funding from Myers Bigel Sibley & Sajovec, LLP, North Carolina Biotechnology Center and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Research Triangle Venture Update is published by
the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), a
non-profit organization located in Research Triangle
Park, N.C.
Editor Carolyn Foy, CED
P.O. Box 13353
RTP, NC 27709
Phone: 919.549.7500
Fax: 919.549.7405
Email: mcfoy@cednc.org