Venture
Update Vol. VIII, #1, February, 2004
Done Deals
Durham - Athenix Corp. (www.athenixcorp.com) has secured $12.5 million in an oversubscribed series B round from lead investors Intersouth Partners of Durham, Polaris Venture Partners of Waltham, Mass., and Boston Millennia Partners. The round also included two new investors: Hunt Ventures of Dallas, Texas, and Eastman Ventures, the venture capital arm of TN-based Eastman Chemical Company. Athenix will use the funding to develop products and increase research for bio-industrial products for agricultural and chemical businesses using genetic traits from microbes. Contact Markus Andres (919.281.0938).
Morrisville - ChannelAdvisor Corp. (www.channeladvisor.com) has raised $7 million in funding from eBay of San Jose, Calif., Southern Capitol Ventures of Raleigh, Kodiak Venture Partners of Waltham, Mass., and Blue Sky Ventures of Boston. The funding will help expand development, extend growth into new markets and increase efforts to assist companies in selling merchandise online. Contact Ashley Trotter (866.264.8594).
RTP - Tranzyme (www.tranzyme.com) has merged with Canada-based Neokimia and received $6 million in convertible debt from Research Triangle Ventures, Japan's Pacific Rim Ventures, S.C.O.U.T. Healthcare Fund and Redmont Venture Partners of Alabama, and several Canadian investors. The funding will assist in product development for gastrointestinal disorders and metabolic diseases. Contact Vipin K. Garg (919.597.6605).
Morrisville - etrials Worldwide (www.etrials.com) has raised an additional $2.5 million, bringing the total series A investment to $5 million. NY-based Newlight Associates was the principal investor. This round of financing will fund additional growth both in the U.S. and abroad. The company provides software for the collection, integration and review of data in the clinical drug trial process. Contact Craig Pyne (919.653.3400).
Chapel Hill - Hemocellular Therapeutics has received an oversubscribed $1 million seed round to help prepare and submit a pre-IND filing for the company's first product, a primary hemostatic therapeutic for controlling or preventing active bleeding. RTP's Catalysta Ventures led the funding, with support from NJ-based BD Ventures, individual investors and several of the company's key scientific and business advisors. Contact Stan Eskridge (919.419.3169).
Morrisville - LiveWire Logic (www.livewirelogic.com) has received an additional $1 million from existing investors, including The Atlantis Group, Charlotte Angel Partners, Gray Ventures, Research Triangle Ventures, TriState Investment Group and truePilot. This financing will help fund further sales and marketing efforts for the company's automated customer self-service solution. Contact Michael Lough (919.234.2163).
RTP - Cyberlux Corp. (www.cyberlux.com) has completed a private placement of $775,000 to help with developing new production prototypes for emergency lighting products. The offer to purchase shares of its common stock, which trades on the over-the-counter bulletin board (OTC BB), was made to 48 investors. Contact Mark Schmidt (919.688.7653).
Cary - 3Dsolve (www.3dsolve.com) has raised an undisclosed amount of early-stage funding for product development and marketing for its simulation learning technology. Funding came from a variety of private investors in the United States and Japan, including 3Dsolve's advisory board member Joichi Ito. Contact Shawn Ramsey-Kroboth (919.621.0737).
Raleigh - HAHT Commerce (www.haht.com) has been acquired by Maryland's Global eXchange Services for an estimated $30 million. The acquisition combines two providers of B2B e-commerce solutions. The transaction is subject to approval of HAHT's shareholders and other conditions. Contact Bob Gallagher (919.786.5164).
Morrisville - RegEd (www.reged.com) has been acquired by Wisconsin-based Fiserv for an undisclosed amount. RegEd, a provider of financial compliance solutions, will take over control of Emerald Learning Solutions (ELS), a continuing education provider that also is a part of Fiserv. The combined RegEd and ELS will operate as RegEd. Contact Howard Moore (919.653.5225).
On The Up
Metabolon, Inc.
Durham, NC
A local company is developing technology with the potential to decrease disease diagnostic times, treat patients faster and make drug therapies more cost-effective for companies. Durham-based Metabolon (www.metabolon.com), selected to present at CED's Venture 2004 in April, is focused on neurogenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease.
Metabolon uses a new method of tracking the metabolic process in human cells by analyzing metabolites, or small molecules found in human tissue. This technology enables Metabolon to formulate data that is informative and easy to understand. The data is also more quantitative than previous methods used in pharmaceutical product development. Metabolon hopes these efforts will help doctors diagnose diseases at a faster and more accurate rate.
Founded in Boston in 2000, Metabolon moved to the Research Triangle region last year under the leadership of the company's president and CEO, Dr. John Ryals, who is the former CEO and founder of RTP-based Paradigm Genetics. Ryals, who has over 20 years experience in biotechnology, held senior research positions in Novartis and Ciba-Geigy and is a board member of Athenix Corporation and N.C. State University College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.
Ryals said Metabolon was partnering with drug companies to aid their efforts in drug discovery and drug development. He said he was optimistic about Metabolon's future.
"Metabolon has a unique and powerful core technology," Ryals said. "We have positioned that technology to generate a high value for the company, and we have early results that are very encouraging. The potential seems very high with a reasonably short period of time required to achieve a high value."
Metabolon raised $4 million in Series A financing in 2003 from the Aurora Funds, Trelys Ventures, Alexandria Real Estate Equities and other individual investors. Ryals said the company is looking to raise another $2 to $3 million in the near future. Contact John Ryals (919.597.6592).
New Developments
Raleigh - Southern Capitol Ventures (www.southerncapitolventures.com) announced that Alfred Childers has joined the firm as venture partner. Childers was co-founder and president of Magellan Labs, acquired in 2002 by Cardinal Health for $200 million. Childers has been on Southern Capitol's advisory board since 2001. Contact Jason Caplain (919.858.7580 x223).
RTP - MCNC Research & Development Institute (www.mcnc-rdi.org) and N.C. State University (www.ncsu.edu) have together demonstrated an optical network provisioning protocol to enable more efficient computing applications. The "just-in-time" protocol showed the viability of all-optical network connections and marked the transition of the JIT protocol from the laboratory to an operational network. JIT will provide much needed support to U.S. military and civilian researchers to solve real-world problems. Contact Scott Yates (919.248.1907).
Raleigh - N.C. State University (www.ncsu.edu) and UNC-Chapel Hill (www.unc.edu) have opened a new nanotechnology center. The new Triangle National Lithography Center was built for nanofabrication, which involves the development and production of computer microchips built in nanometers (one-billionth of a meter). The facility, housed at N.C. State, features a lithography stepper that can be used to produce computer chips, molecular electronics devices and opto-electronics devices. Contact Mick Kulikowski (919.515.3470).
Durham - Duke University (www.duke.edu) and General Motors are partnering to work on the development of hydrogen fuel cells. GM awarded Duke with a $500,000 grant to help fund the fuel-cell project. Duke's Fuqua School of Business is spearheading the multi-year, interdisciplinary teaching and research project, with significant participation from the Pratt School of Engineering and the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy. Contact Jim Gray (919.660.2935).
In the Pipeline
RTP - Icagen, Inc. (www.icagen.com) has initiated Phase I clinical trials for ICA-69673, a novel drug candidate for the treatment of epilepsy. ICA-69673 acts upon an ion channel that represents one of several targets in Icagen's broad research program in epilepsy and other disorders of neuro-excitability, including neuropathic pain. The initial study planned for the Phase I development program is a single-dose escalation study in healthy male volunteers. Contact Richard Katz (919.941.5206).
Chapel Hill - POZEN Inc. (www.pozen.com) has received favorable results from a rat carcinogenicity study for the company's MT 100, an oral therapy for the acute treatment of migraines. The two-year study showed no negative interaction between the two active components in MT 100 - metoclopramide and naproxen. None of the tumors observed in the study were considered to be directly related to the administration of MT 100's two components. POZEN submitted the report's positive findings to the FDA, thus completing the company's MT 100 New Drug Application. The FDA is expected to finish its review in May 2004. Contact Lisa Barthelemy (919.913.1044).
Durham - BioStratum Incorporated (www.biostratum.com) has signed a global research, development and marketing agreement with Novo Nordisk A/S to jointly develop monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of cancer. The companies will jointly conduct a research program to be funded by Novo Nordisk. BioStratum is also entitled to receive potential milestones of approximately $80 million, as well as royalties on product sales, for each antibody developed and marketed under the agreement. Contact Mark Turner (919.433.1000).
Morrisville - Norak Biosciences, Inc. (www.norakbio.com) has entered a Research Evaluation Agreement with the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Norak will allow NCI to evaluate the company's Transfluor technology for screening several G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) cancer targets to find potential drug leads. Contact Terry Willard (919.248.8000 x8804).
Burlington - TriPath Imaging, Inc. (www.tripathimaging.com) has achieved a milestone in its molecular diagnostics oncology program. The company has completed the selection of molecular marker panels for its cervical cancer and breast cancer staging products. The marker panels for cervical cancer and breast cancer staging have met initial clinical performance specifications, allowing the company to complete assay optimization in the first half of 2004 and initiate external research studies. Contact Jenny Kobin (919.206.7195).
Winston-Salem - Kucera Pharmaceutical Company (www.kucerapharma.com) has been issued a patent by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office entitled “Compositions and Methods for Double-targeting Virus Infections and Targeting Cancer Cells” (6,670,341). The technology from the patent works to improve the efficacy and safety of various antiviral, anticancer and other therapeutic compounds. This patent is the sixth U.S. patent issued for Kucera. Contact Russ Read (336.723.7133).
RTP - The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) has confirmed a keynote speaker and selected the first two rounds of presenting companies for Venture 2004. CED's 21st annual Venture conference, held April 27-28, 2004, in Chapel Hill, will feature Senator Bob Dole as the keynote speaker. Senator Dole is a renowned statesman, former Presidential candidate and current Special Counsel for Alston & Bird LLP. CED has also selected 13 NC-based companies to present to investors at Venture 2004 thus far. Companies include RTP-based Affinergy, Greensboro-based APEX Analytix, Durham-based Chorus Systems, Durham-based Constella Group, Inc., Chapel Hill-based DarPharma, Inc., Durham-based Datacraft Solutions, Inc., Charlotte-based End II End Communications, Inc., Durham-based Metabolon, Inc. Raleigh-based Noverant, Inc., Morrisville-based Overture Networks, Greensboro-based Piedmont Pharmaceuticals LLC, Durham-based Serenex and Durham-based StrikeIron. Contact Andrea Cook (919.549.7500).
Mark Your Calendar!
Venture 2004
April 27-28, 2004
The Friday Center, Chapel Hill, NC
www.cednc.org/venture
For more information, visit the CED Web site (www.cednc.org) or 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.
Lisa Rowe-Ralls, editor
P.O. Box 13353, RTP, NC 27709
Phone: 919-549-7500
FAX: 919-549-7405
email: news@cednc.org