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Six Companies Selected for CED's Venture 2003
Second Application Deadline Slated for
December 19th; Previous Presenter Cites Conference as "Pivotal"
in Attracting Funding
December 16, 2002, Research Triangle Park, NC - The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) announced its choice of six companies to present at Venture 2003, and encouraged other interested companies to apply by December 19th for consideration in the next selection round. The conference, scheduled for April 22-23, 2003 in Chapel Hill, NC, will continue its 20-year tradition of showcasing North Carolina's hottest investment opportunities to venture capitalists and financiers from throughout the United States.
"For companies seeking venture financing, I would highly recommend applying to present at CED's Venture conference," asserts Jud Bowman, president and CEO of Pinpoint Networks and a Venture 2002 presenter. "CED's recruitment of high caliber investors to examine the region's strong investment potential was pivotal to our recent success in attracting new venture investors such as New Enterprise Associates - which had not previously invested in a North Carolina company until recently - Massey Burch Capital and strategic investor Intel Capital."
Since its inception in 1999, Pinpoint Networks has raised a total of $20 million in venture capital. Pinpoint has been a CED member since 2000.
The six Venture 2003 presenters selected to date include:
Biolex, Inc. (Pittsboro, NC - www.biolex.com) -- focuses on developing the next generation of patented, recombinant protein expression technologies in a plant based system. Its patented Lemna SystemTM couples the natural characteristics of the green aquatic plant, Lemna, with advanced genetic engineering and protein recovery methods to create a transformational recombinant protein development platform.
Kucera Pharmaceutical Co. (Winston-Salem, NC - www.kucerapharma.com) -- a spin-off from Wake Forest University's School of Medicine and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which develops chemical entities designed to create safer, more selective and efficacious drugs to improve the health and quality of life for patients with acute and chronic diseases, including a novel lead compound targeted against resistant HIV, an emerging problem in treating the virus known to cause AIDS.
MindValve Inc. (Charlotte, NC - www.mindvalve.com) -- formed around technology developed at the Computer Science Department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, combines data mining techniques with predictive analytics to create business intelligence solutions designed to give businesses the power to understand the most important drivers and influencers of customer satisfaction, loyalty and retention. By analyzing transactional, survey and third party data to segment customers and predict customer behavior, the company's solutions are designed for use by business managers, particularly in the banking and financial services industries.
Oriel Therapeutics, Inc. (Research Triangle Park, NC - www.orieltherapeutics.com) -- employs a new vision of pulmonary drug delivery using a universal dry powder aerosolization system, growing out of research conducted in laboratories at the University of North Carolina. It plans to partner it's platform delivery technology with pharma/biotech companies to develop products designed to bring enhanced treatment options for a variety of diseases including asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD).
Stemco Biomedical (Durham, NC - www.stemcobiomedical.com) -- developing a series of kits to identify and select stem cells for use in transplant therapies. The first research focused kit, ALDEFLUORTM, will be launched at the tandem BMT meeting in January 2003. Subsequent kits will specifically target the stem cell transplantation market and provide for more effective stem cell transplants through the selection of better stem cell populations. Currently stem cell transplants are used in treating a variety of blood related cancers and may have future application in treatment of autoimmune and genetic diseases.
Total Billings (Fayetteville, NC - www.totalbillings.com) -- engages in providing organizations with a range of billing services for the outsourcing of invoice production and distribution. Its Total Mail Manager (TMM) web-enabled software application, allows customers to maintain control over their outsourced transaction processing functions and choose from a range of web-enabled transaction processing services. Distribution can be made through traditional paper or electronic mail channels.
"As we seek the strongest and most fundable companies from across North Carolina, I'm incredibly pleased with the applications and selections to date," said Jeff Clark, partner with The Aurora Funds and chairman of the Venture 2003 Selection Committee. "So far this year's applicant pool is quite strong and diverse, despite the challenges posed by the current economic climate."
Since 1999, Venture presenters have raised over $1.5 billion in venture capital. The selection committee is seeking high growth companies from an array of industries that are looking to raise either initial or subsequent rounds of professional equity capital.
Chaired by Jeff Clark, general partner, The Aurora Funds, the Venture 2003 Selection Committee includes professional venture capitalists and angel investors from throughout the Southeast. In addition to company presentations, Venture 2003 will include leading industry speakers, extensive networking opportunities and exclusive investor-only events. For more information on applying to present or general registration, visit www.cednc.org/venture/2003.
About Venture 2003: CED's upcoming 20th annual Venture 2003 - where great minds meet smart money - is scheduled for April 22-23, 2003 at The Friday Center in Chapel Hill, NC. Last year's conference, Venture 2002 drew a crowd of more than 850 investors, service professionals, entrepreneurs and others involved in the entrepreneurial funding process from throughout the United States. Interested parties should visit the conference Web site at www.cednc.org/venture/2003.
About CED: The Council for Entrepreneurial Development, located in Research Triangle Park, NC, is a private, non-profit organization 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 through annual conferences, seminars, workshops and monthly programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. CED is the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 5,000 members representing 1,200 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms. www.cednc.org