Press Release
Contact: Robert Caudle |
Phone: (919) 549-7500 ext. 107 |
RTRP and CED Team Up to Attract Boston Investors
Public/Private Partnership Goes to Boston to Pitch NC Investment Opportunities
June 28, 2007, Research Triangle Park, N.C. – The Research Triangle Regional Partnership (RTRP) and Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) partnered to promote North Carolina's innovation economy to a group of leading investors in Boston on Thursday, June 28. During a special luncheon at the Boston Hyatt Harborside Hotel, several of North Carolina's government, non-profit and business leaders spoke to venture capitalists in Boston about the Tar Heel State's investment opportunities.
This trip marks the second time in three years that CED and RTRP have sent a delegation to speak with Boston investors. The North Carolina officials who spoke at Thursday’s luncheon included Ted Abernathy, Executive Vice President, Research Triangle Regional Partnership; Richard Casey, President and CEO, Square 1 Bank; Reid Conrad, CEO, Near-Time, Inc.; Monica Doss, President, CED; and Dr. Victor Dzau, Chancellor for Health Affairs, Duke University and President and CEO, Duke University Health System.
Representatives from Duke University, Fidelity Investments, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, North Carolina Board of Science & Technology, North Carolina State University, UNC-Chapel Hill and several other Triangle-based firms also attended the luncheon.
CED President Monica Doss said the event gave Boston attendees an insider’s look on the latest initiatives in the Research Triangle’s innovation economy.
“The lunch provided an informal venue to re-connect with investors and share the Triangle’s latest investment opportunities,” Doss said. “As we experienced the last time in Boston, this trip provided a unique opportunity to position North Carolina as a hotbed of innovation and entrepreneurial activity.”
Approximately 50 people attended the invite-only luncheon, including representatives from the following firms:
- 5AM Ventures
- Ampersand Ventures
- Battery Ventures
- Boston Millennia Partners
- Brook Venture Partners
- Canaan Partners
- Commons Capital
- Cutlass Capital
- Flagship Ventures
- GrandBanks Capital
- HealthCare Ventures LLC
- HLM Venture Partners
- IDG Ventures
- Matrix Partners
- Oxford Bioscience Partners
- Polaris Venture Partners
- SV Life Sciences
- TD Capital Ventures
- And many other active Boston firms.
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. Headquartered in the Research Triangle with a divisional office in Wilmington, 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. 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
About RTRP: The Research Triangle Regional Partnership (RTRP) is a public/private partnership that promotes economic development for the 13-county region of North Carolina comprising Chatham, Durham, Franklin, Granville, Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Moore, Orange, Person, Vance, Wake and Warren counties. RTRP promotes the region worldwide and works to attract investment from successful businesses that can well serve the region and its mix of rural and urban areas. www.researchtriangle.org
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