Venture
Update Vol V, #2, March, 2001
Research Triangle Park—Unitive Electronics, Inc. (www.unitive.com), provider of outsourced semiconductor packaging technologies, raised $30 million in its second round of funding led by Onex Corporation. The company will use the funds to build and acquire capital equipment. The second round funding adds to a total of $50 million in financing. Contact: Robert Lanzone (919.941.0606 x132).
Research Triangle Park—eVincio Corporation (www.evincio.com), provider of Web content management and distribution services, has acquired the assets of Palo Alto-based Constructors, Inc., which include the eConstructors.com marketplace and the WhoBuiltIt.com reverse directory, for an undisclosed amount. Contact: Will McFarland (919.991.9949).
Wilmington—Endeavor Pharmaceuticals Inc. (www.endeavorpharm.com), which specializes in female health and hormone technologies, recently closed on a $46 million Series E preferred stock financing round. MPM Capital LP of Cambridge, Mass., led the financing with a $20 million investment. Other investors included Alta Partners of San Francisco. Contact Forest Waldon (910-790-9811).
Charlotte—Mindblazer Inc. (www.mindblazer.com), a producer of live and on-demand webcasting events for businesses, secured $1.5 million in commitments for new funding from Frontier Capital and Piedmont Venture Partners. Contact: Cindy Praeger (704.554.9555).
Charlotte—123hire.com (www.123hire.com), a network of local online recruiting sites, received $1.4 million in a second round of early stage funding from Charlotte Angel Partners and AWP Partners. The company will use the money for product development and to add six offices in the Midwest and Southwest. Contact: Mark Edwards (704.944.1804).
Cary—OpenMind Publishing Group (www.ompg.com), which serves the academic community, secured more than $2 million in its first round of venture funding. Investors included Charlotte Angel Partners, Research Triangle Ventures, First Flight Venture Fund and The Atlantis group. Contact: Laurie Zuckerman (919.490.6313).
Durham—Triangle Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: VIRS) (www.tripharm.com) entered into an equity facility agreement of up to $100 million with Ramius Securities LLC, that will allow Triangle the right to periodically issue and sell shares of its common stock over 36 months. Triangle develops new antiviral drug candidates. Contact: Robert Amundsen (919.493.5980).
New Developments
Research Triangle Park—A.M. Pappas &
Associates (www.ampappas.com)
started a new venture fund focusing exclusively on
the life sciences sector. The firm has already raised
$88 million of its intended $100 million fund.
Contact: Eric Linsley (919.361.4990).
Durham—ASI won a $1 million grant from the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to conduct the nation's first survey of exposure to blood among non-hospital health care workers to develop programs aimed at reducing the incidence of diseases such as hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. Contact: Katherine Smart (919.544.8500).
Research Triangle Park—Paradigm Genetics Inc. (Nasdaq: PDGM) (www.paradigmgenetics.com) delivered new assays for high-throughput screening to Bayer AG, designed to identify novel classes of safe and effective herbicides. The delivery triggered undisclosed milestone payments to Paradigm from Bayer. Contact: Ellen Corliss (919.425.3000).
Raleigh—CLOSURE Medical Corporation (Nasdaq: CLSR) (www.closuremed.com), a medical tissue adhesive products company, received FDA clearance to market its LIQUIDERMTM liquid adhesive bandage, the first and only cyanoacrylate medical device approved by the FDA for the over-the-counter adhesive bandage market. Contact: Deanne Eagle (212.661.8030).
Research Triangle Park—Incara Pharmaceuticals Corp. (Nasdaq: INCR) (www.intercardia.com) enrolled patients for treatment in a pivotal Phase 2/3 study of OP2000 in patients with ulcerative colitis. OP2000 is a subcutaneously administered ultra-low molecular weight heparin being developed by Incara and Elan Corporation, plc. Contact: W. Bennett Love (919.558.1907).
Durham—BioStratum Inc. (www.biostratum.com), a leader in basal lamina research, struck a deal with Japan's Kiowa to receive $25 million in upfront licensing fees and milestone payments in exchange for Kiowa having the Japanese rights to sell Pyridorin, a medication for diabetes. BioStratum will receive royalties from the drug's sale. Contact: Aaron Herman (919.572.6515).
Durham—Trimeris (www.trimeris.com), a company that discovers and develops a new class of drug therapeutics called viral fusion inhibitors, recorded initial clinical success with its first AIDS drug. The pioneer drug, T-20, blocks the AIDS virus from invading healthy cells. Contact: Alex Dusek (919.419.6050).
Durham—Intersouth Partners (www.intersouth.com) named Sallie Shuping Russell its third general partner. Russell is concluding a 15-year tenure at Duke University, where she served as vice president and director of private investments at Duke Management Company. Contact: Andrea Straw (919.493.6640 x108).
Durham—Eno River Capital (www.enorivercapital.com) announced the hiring of former N.C. state treasurer Harlan Boyles as a part-time venture partner. Contact: Daniel Egger (919.680.4511).
Morrisville—SciQuest Inc. (www.sciquest.com), operator of Internet marketplaces for research and scientific supplies, named Stephen Wiehe, former executive at both the SAS Institute and Dataflux Corporation, as CEO. Wiehe will guide the company as it refocuses from e-commerce to software applications. Contact: Barrett Joyner (888.638.7322).
Research Triangle Park—Schwarz Biosciences (www.schwarzpharma.com), a subsidiary of Schwarz Pharma AG of Monheim, Germany, opened its 18,000-square-foot office in RTP to concentrate on the development and commercialization of new therapies for diseases of the central nervous system (CNS), such as Parkinson's and epilepsy. The company has a pipeline of CNS compounds in various stages of clinical development includinga skin patch treatment for Parkinson's which is scheduled to begin Phase III or late stage clinical trials in 2001. Contact: Michelle Rubel (919.217.7712).
Research Triangle Park—South Capitol Ventures (www.southcapitolventures.com) formed an alliance with Marion Bass Securities Corp. to raise capital for the $20 million South Capitol Technology Fund. Contact: Dave Murray (919.858.7580).
On The
Up
StemCo Biomedical, Inc.
Founded last year by members of Duke's Comprehensive
Cancer Center, StemCo Biomedical has proprietary
technology to identify "blood stem cells" using
technology licensed from the university. Stem cells
are originating cells that differentiate and change
into different types of cells, such as red and white
blood cells and platelets. If stem cells are
identified and isolated, they can be transplanted to
repopulate a blood system or to regenerate organs and
tissue, researchers say.
The bone marrow transplant is StemCo's primary area of interest, although its technology is useful to other companies that are doing stem cell research for curing diabetes, Alzheimer's and other diseases.
"This technology allows hospitals to do bone marrow transplants in a safer fashion, by eliminating some of the dangerous side effects," says Jonathon Lawrie, CEO of the Durham-based company. StemCo's technology would potentially enhance the ability of using a patient's or donor's bone marrow in transplants because its technology would identify and separate blood stem cells from other contaminants.
StemCo received $4 million in first round funding in October 2000 from Intersouth Partners and from The Aurora Funds. This funding will allow StemCo to finalize the development of its technology as it moves to future human bone marrow transplant clinical trials.
Initial
Public Offerings 2001
March 6, 2001
Noon - 6:00 p.m.
Marriott at Research Triangle Park
Capital Connection Luncheon
(formerly the STREAK luncheon)
March 22, 2001, 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Embassy Suites, Cary, N.C.
Venture
2001
18th Annual CED Venture Conference
April 17 - 18, 2001
The Friday Center
Chapel Hill, N.C.
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 Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and Kilpatrick Stockton, L.L.P.
Research Triangle Venture Update is published by the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), a non-profit organization located in Research Triangle Park, N.C.