Press Releases
February 28, 2000 |
Contact: Cathy
Trask |
Second Round of Presenting Companies Selected for CED's Venture2000
Companies Seek Funding at Southeast's Premier Venture Capital Conference
February 28, 2000, Research Triangle Park, N.C. - A second round of companies seeking venture capital have been selected to present at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development's (CED) 17th Annual Venture2000, the Southeast's premier venture capital conference. The conference will be held May 10 - 11, 2000 at the Friday Center on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
A committee of professional venture capitalists from throughout the Southeast selects presenters that reflect the diversity of North Carolina's entrepreneurial sector. Past presenters have spanned the fields of health care services, computer software and hardware, medical devices, telecommunications, biotechnology, financial services, pharmaceuticals, advanced materials, wireless communications and the Internet.
The second round of companies selected to present at Venture2000 are:
- DataFlux Corporation develops software to significantly improve the accuracy, consistency and usability of an organization's critical data, making the data more useful.
- EXpo-sites, Inc. has developed sports-expo.com, a Web portal and marketplace for the sporting goods industry.
- JoeAdvisor.com, Inc. provides a forum for investment advisors to offer service to anyone with an Internet connection and monitors how that advice performs over time.
- Merix Bioscience, Inc. is an immunotherapy company dedicated to the treatment of metastatic cancers and chronic infectious diseases resistant to current therapies.
- NextAudio, Inc. is developing a Personal Radio Station that is continually refined to more precisely match an individual's tastes and interests.
- Norak Biosciences, Inc. has licensed proprietary technology allowing G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) function to be monitored in real time. Compounds that interact directly with GCPRs account for 60 percent of all commercially available prescription drugs.
- Novalon Pharmaceutical Corporation is a biotechnology company that discovers and develops innovative human therapeutics in the areas of infectious diseases and oncology.
- Pinpoint.com is developing a next-generation solution for searching the Web to make searches more relevant and less redundant.
- Saffron Technology, Inc. makes software for personal and expert knowledge-sharing that is cost-effective, highly accurate and scalable.
- Sicel Technologies, Inc. is developing a line of surgical implants that monitor biological and physiological changes as they happen.
- SoDeog Technologies, Inc. builds SyncTalk, a software that enables wireless handheld computer devices to communicate using a common language platform.
- Taskpoint.com, Inc. is developing a business-to-business e-commerce portal for the construction equipment industry.
A total of 19 companies have been selected to present at Venture2000 so far. The seven selected in the first round were: Alerts.com; AuctionRover.com; Cogent Neuroscience, Inc.; Extensibility, Inc.; InterAdNet, Inc.; NeoButler, Inc.; and ViOS, Inc. There will be one more round of selection for Venture2000 presenters in March.
Last year, Venture '99 drew a crowd of more than 800 people, including representatives of venture capital funds, private investors, corporations, banks, leasing companies and investment banking firms from across the United States and Canada.
"Nationally recognized as the Southeast's premier venture financing conference, Venture2000 continues a 17-year tradition of showcasing the hottest investment opportunities and new technologies to venture capitalists and financiers from throughout the United States," said Monica Doss, CED's executive director. "Venture capital invested in the Triangle tripled in 1999 to more than $750 million and presenters from Venture '98 and Venture '99 alone raised $350 million of that total."
Companies raising seed and first rounds will present at the conference's Early Stage session on the afternoon of May 10. Companies raising expansion rounds will present at the conference's Main Session on May 11.
In addition to company presentations, the conference features presenting company exhibits and a keynote speaker. Conference attendees will also have many informal networking opportunities, including a cocktail reception on May 10, small group dinners and an invitation-only golf tournament for investors.
Venture2000 is presented by CED, with support from the North Carolina Department of Commerce, National Venture Capital Association, North Carolina Venture Capital Association and UNC-CH's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
About CED
The Council for Entrepreneurial Development, located at the CED Entrepreneurship Center in Research Triangle Park, NC, was formed in 1984 to stimulate the creation and growth of high-impact companies in the greater Research Triangle region. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs. CED sponsors annual conferences, seminars, workshops and monthly programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. CED also offers the FastTrac entrepreneurial training program, youth programs and other outreach programs.
CED is a private, non-profit organization and is the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 3,000 members representing 1000 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms.