CED's Entrepreneurs Community News

rPath Closes $10M in Series C Financing

rPath, a company focused on simplifying the delivery and consumption of software innovation, raised a $10 million C round led by its existing backers, General Catalyst, North Bridge Venture Partners and Wakefield Group. This new capital is earmarked for increasing the company's leadership in enabling cloud computing.

rPath has been a CED member since 2006. rPath investor Wakefield Group, L.P. is a long time CED member and supporter. In addition to contributing to CED's Innovation to Impact campaign at the Contributor level, Wakefield Group partner, Steve Nelson, chaired CED's Board of Directors from 2002-2003 and has spoken on numerous panels.

Mazzo Replaces Gooding at Regado Biosciences, Inc.

Regado Biosciences, Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of antidote-controlled antithrombotics announced David Mazzo is replacing Douglas Gooding as CEO. Gooding is also a venture partner at the Aurora Funds, Inc., the original seed investor in Regado Biosciences. Under Gooding, the company completed a $23 million round of Series C financing in 2007.

Regado Biosciences has been an active member of CED since 2003. The company presented at CED's Venture Conference in 2003, and again at CED's 25th annual conference in 2008. The Aurora Funds, Inc. is a long time member and supporter of CED. The venture capital firm not only participates in the development of CED program content, but also contributes as a perennial conference sponsor and at the Supporter level of CED's Innovation to Impact II campaign.

Athenix Closes $10 Million Round

peHub, citing a regulatory filing as its source, announced that Athenix a leader in agricultural, industrial and biofuel technologies, raised a $10 million round. The round was lead by Hunt Ventures and Intersouth Partners. Athenix's focus is on the creation of products that improve crop quality and sustainable farm productivity and that enable the development of renewable sources of energy and specialty chemicals.

Athenix was a presenting company at CED's Venture 2002 conference and its investor, Intersouth Partners is a long time CED member and supporter. In addition to aiding in program development, the venture capital firm also contributes to CED's Innovation to Impact campaign at the Partner level.

UNC-Greensboro to spin off firm in NanoAccelerator

The University of North Carolina in Greensboro (UNCG) announced that it will spin out Thermiacure, and in so doing formalize its partnership with the North Carolina Nanotech Accelerator in High Point. Thermiacure is the first company to result from the formation of the Center for Research Excellence in Nanobiosciences (CREN) at UNCG. The company uses nano-size particles that attach to non-harmful bacteria which are physically attracted to cancerous tumors. The technology has the potential to revolutionize the administration of chemotherapy and radiation treatments.

UNCG in conjunction with two partners, sponsored the opening gala dinner at CED's Biotech 2008 conference in May.

Silver Lining for VC's

Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association was back in the news reporting positive findings for the venture capital industry. Despite a virtually non-existent IPO market and little movement in M&A markets, venture capital returns are still higher than those of other asset classes. Heesen states that, "venture returns across all horizons, except the five-year horizon, outperformed public market indices, NASDAQ and the S&P 500, through 3/31/2008." While that bodes well for the venture capital industry in RTP, Heesen goes on to caution that exit markets need to bounce back if the industry wants to end the year on a positive note.

The NVCA is a longtime CED partner, with its president, Mark Heesen, frequently participating in CED programs. Most recently, Heesen made remarks at CED's 25th annual Venture Conference. Click here to listen to his speech on CED's on demand resource StartUps 24-7.

Hutchison Law Group Completes Annual Compensation Survey

Hutchison Law Group PLLC, a leading provider of strategic business and intellectual property counsel to the Southeast's life science and technology communities, released its annual survey detailing the compensation practices at venture-backed technology and life science companies in North Carolina. Click here to view the executive summary of the survey.

Fred Hutchison a partner at Hutchison Law Group PLLC, is a co-founder and long time supporter of CED. In addition to sponsoring CED's annual conferences and FastTrac Tech Venture™, Hutchison Law Group PLLC is a partner level contributor to CED's Innovation to Impact Campaign.

Diverstity in Venture Capital?

It's true, the venture capital industry is becoming more diverse. The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and Dow Jones released a survey indicating that the venture capital paradigm is shifting toward more diversity within the asset class. While the industry is still predominately controlled by white males, the survey illustrates a trend by which women, minorities and foreign nationals are becoming more prominent in the industry.

The NVCA is a longtime CED partner, with its president, Mark Heeson, frequently participating in CED programs. Additionally, survey contributor, Dow Jones is a CED member.

View the complete survey here.

NC Biotechnology Center Increases Loan Offerings

Up to $1 million dollar loans are now available for qualified biotechnology startup companies through the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Innovating to meet the needs of the ever changing biotechnology climate, the Biotechnology Center increased loan amounts to aid companies before they become viable for angel investment or venture capital funds.

The North Carolina Biotechnology Center is a long time member and supporter of CED. In addition to valuable sponsorships for biotechnology programming like CED's 2008 Biotech conference and CED's Medtech 2008 conference, the center hosts CED's quarterly biotech forums and regularly assists in the development of CED's biotechnology focused programs.

For more information relative to this topic check out these resources on CED's StartUps 24-7:

Alternative Sources of Funding

How to Build a World Class (Biotechnology) Company

Still a Bull Market for VC Fund Raising

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) reports that despite historic lows in exits, venture capital firms are still successfully raising funds. In the second quarter of 2008, 71 firms raised over $9 billion dollars. This represents a 3% increase in dollar value over the same period last year.

For the last two years, the NVCA has partnered with CED provide the "State of Venture Capital" to Triangle area entrepreneurs and investors. Additionally, NVCA president, Mark Heesen was a featured speaker at CED's 25th annual Venture Conference. Heesen's PowerPoint presentation and both of his speeches are available on StartUps 24-7.

RTI Wins $5M Contract to Assist FDA in Food Safety

RTI International has entered into a contract with the Food and Drug Administration to help improve food safety. Under the terms of the contract, reported to be worth nearly $5 million,
RTI researchers are to develop models, methods and databases for use by the FDA. These systems will aid the FDA in advising the public of food-related threats and reducing health risks related to fresh produce and shellfish.

RTI International has been a CED member since 1995. The company sponsored CED's Biotech and TECH conferences in 2007 as well as the two-part series, Venture Capital for Entrepreneurs, in 2007 and 2008.

Addrenex Lands Drug Development Deal Worth up to $27M

Addrenex has signed a deal with Sciele Pharma to develop a patented compound that could be a treatment for hypertension. The partnership has the potential to lead to some $27 million for the Triangle-based startup. If the drug is approved, Sciele (Nasdaq: SCRXZ) has agreed to pay the development costs and royalties. Phase II clinical trials are expected to begin later this year.

Addrenex has been a member of CED since 2006. The company participated in CED's FastTrac Tech Venture and presented at CED's Venture Conference in 2007.

CED's Venture Showcase Company closes $25 million Series B round

CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, an innovative biotechnology company that focuses on therapies for central nervous system (CNS) disorders (migraine therapies in particular), has closed a $25 million series B round of new money. The round boosts CoLucid's capital raising to more than $41 million. Pappas Ventures participated in the round as a return investor.

CoLucid Pharmaceuticals was a showcase presenting company at CED's 25th Annual Venture Conference this year. Pappas Ventures, is a long time CED member and supporter. In addition to their perennial sponsorship of CED's Venture and Biotech Conferences, Pappas Ventures also contributes to the Innovation to Impact II campaign at a Supporter level.

Top 100 Most Influential Technology Companies Named

In May, the Aberdeen Group, now a division of market researcher and mail list builder Harte-Hanks, completed their research for the Annual State of the Market Report with specific information about the technology industry. Aberdeen's experts used customer input to create a ranking of the top 100 most influential technology companies.

The 2008 edition of the report, which has a retail value of $1,995, names the top five most influential companies in this order: Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, IBM and Cisco. Of these top five, three are CED members: Microsoft, IBM and Cisco.

rPath Secures $10 Million C Round of Funding

rPath, a company enabling "cloud computing" via virtual appliances, has raised a $10 million C round led by its existing backers, General Catalyst, North Bridge Venture Partners, and Wakefield Group L.P.

rPath has been a CED member since 2006. rPath was a late stage presenting company at CED's 2006 Venture Conference, and a month later the company received CED's Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards for Start-up of the Year.

In addition, Wakefield Group L.P., has been a CED member since 1995 and supports CED's capital campaign at the Contributor level.

Liquidia Technologies co-founder Awarded the "Oscar for Inventors"

Liquidia Technologies co-founder Awarded the "Oscar for Inventors"
This week Joseph DeSimone, co-founder of Liquidia Technologies, was awarded the prestigious $500,000 Lemelson-MIT Prize in recognition of his inventions and innovations that improve the world in which we live. DeSimone's most recent invention, the PRINT® (Particle Replication in Non-wetting Templates) platform utilizes techniques from the microelectronics industry to design and manufacture highly-precise shape and size-specific nanomaterials. .

Liquidia has been a CED member since 2004. DeSimone presented at CED's Venture Conference in 2001, 2003 and again in 2005. Since participating in CED's Venture Conference, Liquidia Technologies has raised two rounds of venture capital totaling $22 million.