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Home Director Reports $55 Million Round & Acquisition


Morrisville-based Home Director, an IBM spin-off that provides home networking and technology products, has closed a $55 million first round of funding with a strategic investment from Motorola's Broadband Communication Sector. In addition to the investment, Motorola has entered into a partnership with Home Director to develop home networking integration products. Home Director, which will use the funds to expand the company and develop new products, also announced that it will purchase Digital Interiors, a high-tech wiring company based in California. Company officials said the acquisition will expand Home Director's product portfolio to include home theater and other advanced systems.

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Mi-Co Reels in Additional $2 Million


Formerly known as Advanced Digital Systems Inc., RTP-based Mi-Co has secured $2 million in funding. The financing comes less than two months after the company secured an initial $1.5 million. Mi-Co is developing and marketing a pen-on-paper mobile Internet solution, which includes handwriting-capturing technology. Mi-Co plans to use the funding round to fund a wider commercial release of its products and services later this year.

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Overture Networks Raises $750K Seed Round


According to LocalBusiness.com, RTP's Overture Networks has reeled in $750,000 in seed financing from private investors. Overture is an optical networking start-up company that plans to offer service providers products that will make full use of their optical networks. The company will use this financing to build a development team to design its products.

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Charlotte's Elogex Raises $6.2 Million Round


Elogex Inc. of Charlotte has raised a $6.2 million funding round led by New York investment firm Fenway Partners. Founded in November 1999, Elogex is developing a system that allows large companies to automate ordering, scheduling and paying for trucking and other transportation services. The company will use the funding for sales and marketing, further product development, and for recruiting additional executive management.

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Summus, High Speed Net Solutions Merge


After more than two months of merger discussions, Summus Ltd. and High Speed Net Solutions have signed an asset acquisition agreement to combine the two companies, LocalBusiness.com reported. After the deal is completed, Summus will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Raleigh-based High Speed, which specializes in permission marketing and online rich media content for direct marketing. Summus, which is also based in Raleigh, develops compression software for digital media content.

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StartUpStreet.com, Business 2.0 and CED Join Forces for StartUpNow! Conference


StartUpStreet.com and Business 2.0 , in association with CED, will jointly host a series of annual educational conferences in the RTP. The first event will be the StartUp Now! Conference on January 23, 2001. The StartUp Now! Conference Series, which will feature local and national speakers, is designed to provide entrepreneurs and angel investors with the fundamentals of building and funding a New Economy company. The conference has an interactive format with roundtable discussions, Q&A sessions, expert panels, and idea exchange forums all in one day. For more information go to http://www.startupstreet.com/SUS/pub/events.jsp.

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Paradigm Genetics 3rd Quarter Revenue Leaps by 829%


LocalBusiness.com reported that RTP-based Paradigm Genetics has reported third quarter revenues of $3.5 million, which is an 829% jump from the $400,000 in revenues from the same period last year. Company officials said the large jump in revenue can be attributed to milestone payments from Bayer and Monsanto. The company, which is looking to industrialize the process of identifying gene function, reported a net loss of $4 million for the quarter. Expenses rose 132% to $7.5 million compared with $3.2 million the last same period last year.

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Cree Announces 2-for-1 Stock Split


The board of directors at Cree Inc. has approved a two-for-one stock split. The record date for the stock split will be Dec. 1, with certificates representing the additional shares to be distributed around Dec. 8. As a result of the split, the number of shares of common stock outstanding will increase to approximately 71.4 million. Based in Durham, Cree develops and manufactures semiconductor materials and devices based on silicon carbide, gallium nitride and related compounds.

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State Universities Benefit from Recent N.C. Biotech Grants


Several state universities have received grants from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center for the advancement of bioscience education. Averaging $157,000 each, grants from the Center's Historically Minority University Biotechnology Program Initiate were given to five institutions: Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina Central University, UNC-Pembroke, and Winston-Salem State University. The program has doubled enrollment in biosciences classes at the state's six historically minority universities in the last seven years. In addition to issuing the minority grants, N.C. Biotech also awarded $80,000 in institutional development grants to NC State University and $220,000 in grants to UNC-Chapel Hill.

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Events Update




November 8th — Infotech Roundtable - Creating Your Written Business Plan

November 10th — Triangle Venture Breakfast Series

November 13th — Biotechnology Roundtable

November 14th — EntreForum

November 15th — Emerging Industrial Technologies Roundtable

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