Venture Update Vol. IX, #9, October 2005
Done Deals
Raleigh – Voyager Pharmaceutical Corporation (www.voyagerpharma.com), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing drugs for diseases associated with aging and development, has filed for an IPO. Voyager will raise a reported $128.92 million through a planned auction offering. Once the IPO is complete, the company plans to be listed on Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “VYGR.” Contact Patrick Smith (919.486.4880).
RTP – The Aurora Funds, Inc. (www.aurorafunds.com) has raised $50 million in the first closing of its fifth venture fund, Aurora Ventures V, LP (Aurora V). Aurora V will invest primarily in seed and first-round financings of companies, frequently taking a lead position in the financing syndicate. Geographically, the firm will concentrate its investments primarily in the region bounded by the Washington, D.C.--Baltimore corridor south through Florida, targeting companies focusing on biotechnology, Internet infrastructure software, semiconductors, data communications, photonics and nanotechnology. Contact Jeff Clark (919.484.0400).
RTP – Icoria (www.icoria.com) has been acquired by Massachusetts-based Clinical Data, Inc., in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $12.5 million. The acquisition, which will bring metabolomics and biomarker expertise to Clinical Data, is expected to close late this year or in early 2006, pending approval by Icoria’s shareholders. Icoria is focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of diagnostics and targeted therapeutics in diabetes, obesity, oncology and other areas. Contact Brian Ritchie (212.845.4200).
Morrisville – TapRoot Systems Inc. (www.TapRootSystems.com), a provider of software to the smartphone industry, has raised $6.5 million in Series B funding to expand its product portfolio and extend handset offerings worldwide. Harbert Venture Partners led the financing, with participation from existing investors Intersouth Partners and Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds. Contact Rella Haire (919.465.2266).
Cary – Bandwidth.com (www.bandwidth.com) has closed on an additional $4.75 million in funding from private investors. The company will use the funding to enhance its flagship VoIP offering BandwidthVoIP as well as expand operations, sales and customer service departments. Contact Henry Kaestner (888.808.5150).
Raleigh – Respirics Inc. (www.respirics.com), a pulmonary drug delivery and development company, has closed a reported $3.4 million Series A round of financing from Catalysta Ventures and Research Triangle Ventures. Respirics will use the funds to accelerate internal drug development programs involving the company’s Acu-Breathe dry powder inhaler platform. Contact Gilbert Mott (919.789.4220 x103).
Durham – StrikeIron Inc. (www.strikeiron.com), a leader in Web services commercialization, has closed a $2 million Series B round from The Aurora Funds and NC IDEA. StrikeIron will use the funds to further develop its recently launched Web Services Business Marketplace as the core offering of the StrikeIron Web Services Business Network and to expand its marketing and sales activities. Contact Jane Foreman (919.405.7010).
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On The Up
Centice
Durham, NC
In the fast-paced world of medical diagnostics, there is a growing demand for quicker and more sensitive measurement systems.
Durham-based Centice Corporation (www.centice.com) is responding to this need by designing and creating optical sensor modules for a broad range of analysis and molecular diagnostic solutions. The company is developing improved sensor technology with emphasis on speed, sensitivity, specificity, selectivity, size and overall value.
Presently, optical sensors are used to sample sources using a fiber or a narrow entrance slit. Both of these sampling techniques greatly reduce the amount of optical energy that enters the sensor for conversion into electrical energy, signal processing and eventually, presentation of the result or diagnosis.
Centice has invented, and is commercializing, a new generation of optical sensors that greatly increase measurement sensitivity by parallel sampling hundreds of optical channels simultaneously, then applying proprietary algorithms. This wide area, parallel interface to the sample improves throughput by 10-1,000 times that of a conventional sensor. In addition, these computational sensors can analyze challenging biological samples such as tissue and whole blood, saving sample preparation time and equipment cost.
“This new sensor technology is exciting to our partners because we can help to enable new diagnostic tests that either weren’t possible before or were prohibitively expensive,” said Centice CEO Stephen Kaye.
Centice was founded in 2004, based on computational sensor technology originally developed at Duke University. The company gained recognition later that year by winning first place in Duke University’s Startup Challenge 2004 – an annual business plan competition that provided Centice with $50,000 in seed funding. After winning the Startup Challenge, Centice moved on to develop one of its first computational biochemical sensors for use in life science research.
The company is now developing a small sensor platform for molecular recognition involving metal nanoparticle assays under a new NIH sponsored SBIR contract.
Centice, a demo participant at CED’s InfoTech 2005 conference in October, plans to bring its technology in spectroscopy and molecular diagnostics to the market through OEM partnerships with industry leaders. Contact Steve Kaye (919.405.4264).
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New Developments
Kannapolis – David H. Murdock, owner of Dole Food Company, Inc., has unveiled plans for a large scientific and economic revitalization project in Kannapolis, N.C. When complete, the 350-acre research campus will include more than 1 million square feet of office and laboratory space. The campus is expected to become home to over 100 biotech companies. Contact Joni Worthington (919.962.4629).
Greenville and Wilmington – The North Carolina Biotechnology Center (www.ncbiotech.org) will establish two new regional offices in Greenville and Wilmington to help develop biotechnology throughout Eastern North Carolina. The Eastern and Southeastern Offices will join two offices established in the last two years: the Piedmont Triad Office in Winston-Salem and the Western Office in Asheville. The small regional offices will help institutions, schools and agencies to identify area needs, goals, and niche capabilities; draw on the programs and activities of the N.C. Biotechnology Center; and develop regional Advisory Committees. Contact Barry Teater (919.549.8814).
Pittsboro – Biolex (www.biolex.com), a clinical stage protein therapeutics company, has doubled manufacturing capacity at its Pittsboro headquarters. With the expansion, Biolex’s certified preclinical and clinical production space now exceeds 13,000 square feet. Biolex will use the additional capacity to develop and manufacture therapeutic proteins for Centocor, Medarex and other partners using Biolex’s LEX System – a proprietary protein expression system that relies on the aquatic plant Lemma for production. Contact John Irick (919.542.9901).
RTP – IBM (www.ibm.com) plans to introduce a multi-million dollar “Wireless Center of Excellence” in the Research Triangle Park to advance to use of wireless applications ranging from offices to warehouses. IBM made the announcement during its 40th Anniversary celebration in the RTP. The new facility, scheduled to open in October, will allow IBM customers to better understand technology such as RFID, by seeing how packages are scanned and contents are tracked around the world. Contact Alise McNeill (919.254.6262).
Durham – Research Corporation Technologies (www.rctech.com), an Arizona-based technology investment and management company with assets of more than $300 million, has established a regional office in the Research Triangle. The new office in Durham will enhance the reach of the RCT’s BioVentures investment program and other technology development activities. Doreen M. Grech, Ph.D., formerly with RTP-based A.M. Pappas and Associates, will serve as director of RCT’s Durham office. Contact Doreen Grech (919.806.4908).
Silicon Valley – The Silicon Valley Leadership Group (www.svlg.net) has released a study ranking the Research Triangle as the best place to start and grow a company, compared to seven other high-tech regions. The other regions in the ranking were Silicon Valley, San Diego, Seattle, Portland, Austin, Boston and Fairfield County, Va. The report rated each region’s competitiveness in housing, traffic, job market, education, energy costs, health care and business tax burden. Contact Nick Ortiz (408.501.7862).
Durham – Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business (www.fuqua.duke.edu) has launched a Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI). The new center will expand the MBA program’s focus on entrepreneurship and support the university’s efforts to spin-off new ventures through technology transfer. Contact Jim Gray (919.660.2935).
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In the Pipeline
RTP – SCYNEXIS, Inc. (www.scynexis.com) has been named a primary animal health discovery research partner for Georgia-based Merial. The agreement could run up to 15 years and result in $150 million in research funding. Milestone and royalty payments will be made to SCYNEXIS as research milestones are reached and sales from commercial products result from SCYNEXIS' pharmaceutical research in animal health solutions. Contact Terry Marquardt (919.544.8600).
Morrisville – Ziptronix (www.ziptronix.com) has built the world’s first three-dimensional System-on-Chip (3D SoC) for use in the development of wireless communication applications. Ziptronix’ new 3D SoC device, built using the company’s proprietary ZiROC and ZiCON technologies, combines memory, microprocessor and programmable logic die into a single, multi-level, silicon die. Contact Phil Nyborg (919.459.2424).
RTP – Zen-Bio, Inc. (www.zenbio.com), a provider of research tools for the study of human metabolic disease, has received a 24-month $961,578 Phase II SBIR grant from the National Institutes of Health. Zen-Bio will use the grant to fund the development and characterization of a “human omental adipocyte” cell system to evaluate potential new drugs and therapies. Contact Dawn Stricker (919.321.4556).
Durham – Cree, Inc. (www.cree.com) has received a $15 million contract from the Department of Defense’s Title III Program, which is administered by the Air Force Research Laboratory. Under the new five-year contract, Cree will focus on advancing silicon carbide microwave monolithic integrated circuit processing techniques. Contact Raiford Garrabrant (919.313.5397).
Durham – Expression Analysis (www.expressionanalysis.com), a full-service genetics testing and services company, has expanded its existing contract with the Environment Protection Agency. The new contract will include additional services and technologies developed by Expression Analysis, increasing its value to more than $2.5 million this year, taking the maximum value of the entire contract to $6 million. Contact Steve Casey (919.405.2248).
RTP – Diosynth Biotechnology (www.diosynthbiotechnology.com) has signed a contract with Vernalis Plc for process development, scale-up and manufacturing of V10153 for Phase III clinical trials. V10153 is a novel thrombolytic agent currently in Phase II trials for acute ischaemic stroke. Vernalis will transfer its manufacturing process to Diosynth’s RTP facility for further process refinement and manufacturing. Contact Richard Basile (919.337.4305).
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Mark Your Calendar!
CED's InfoTech 2005
October 12, 2005
Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Convention Center
RTP, NC
www.cednc.org/infotech
CED's Opportunity 2005
November 10-11, 2005
Hilton Wilmington Riverside
Wilmington, NC
www.cednc.org/opportunity
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.
Robert Albright, editor
P.O. Box 13353, RTP, NC 27709
Phone: 919-549-7500
FAX: 919-549-7405
email: news@cednc.org