Press Release
Contact: Rosalyn Gell |
Phone: (919) 549-7500 ext.107 |
CED's 23rd Venture Conference Showcases Investment Opportunities
Venture 2006 Attracts Local and National Investors;
Conference Highlights 27 NC-based Growth Companies
May 3, 2006, Pinehurst, NC – The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) hosted its 23rd annual Venture conference Tuesday and Wednesday with approximately 700 people participating in total, including more than 225 investors. The two-day conference, held at Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, North Carolina, showcased North Carolina's top investment opportunities to hundreds of venture capitalists and financiers from throughout the United States.
Venture 2006 included presentations by 27 of the state's most promising private companies. The conference also featured a panel discussion on “M&A and IPO Strategies” and a keynote speech by inventor, author and entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil.
During his keynote address, entitled "Acceleration of Innovation in the 21st Century", Kurzweil commented on trends in technology evolution.
"Technology evolution is a dynamic and chaotic system," said Kurzweil. "Exponential progression of information technology is no longer limited to hardware and software but to every manifestation of information processes. Despite this, we are still able to predict with accuracy what technology and entrepreneurship will look like in 20 years."
Kurzweil also noted the importance that entrepreneurship plays in the progression of information technology.
"Entrepreneurship advances our boundaries," said Kurzweil. "We are a species that goes beyond our limits."
Linda Markus Daniels, of Daniels Daniels & Verdonik, P.A. and co-chair of Venture 2006, said CED's Venture conference symbolized the growth and potential of venture financing in the region.
"We are excited to have the number and quality of companies presenting at this year's Venture 2006," said Daniels. "I am extremely encouraged by the early feedback about investments that may arise from the conference."
About Venture 2006: CED's 23rd annual Venture conference – Where Great Minds Meet Smart Money – was held May 2-3, 2006 at Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, NC. Last year's conference, Venture 2005, drew a crowd of more than 675 investors, service professionals, entrepreneurs and others involved in the entrepreneurial funding process from throughout the United States. www.cednc.org/venture
About CED: The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) is a private, non-profit organization formed in 1984 to identify, enable and promote high growth, high impact entrepreneurial companies and to accelerate the entrepreneurial culture of the Research Triangle and North Carolina. CED is the largest and oldest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 4,000 members representing over 1,100 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms. In July 2005, Wilmington's Coastal Entrepreneurial Council merged with CED to create CED-Coastal, a divisional office focused on entrepreneurial development in Wilmington and throughout North Carolina's entire coastal region. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, seminars, workshops and programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. www.cednc.org
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