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TogetherSoft Acquired by Borland Software for $185M


Borland Software Corporation (Nasdaq: BORL) has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Raleigh-based TogetherSoft Corporation for $82.5 million in cash and 9,050,000 shares of Borland stock. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth calendar quarter of 2002 or the first quarter of 2003, subject to the timing of receipt of the requisite regulatory approvals.

Raleigh's TogetherSoft has some 390 employees, generated more than $50 million in revenues over the past four quarters, and has thousands of customers for its customized software worldwide. The company recently hired Jeffrey Lunsford, a Georgia Tech graduate and former executive at S1 Corporation, to be its president and chief executive officer. www.togethersoft.com

TogetherSoft Corp. has been a CED member since 1999.

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RF Micro Buys Resonext for $133M


Greensboro-based RF Micro Devices (Nasdaq: RFMD), a publicly traded provider of radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) for wireless communications applications, has agreed to purchase San Jose, CA's Resonext Communications, a provider of integrated two-chip CMOS applications for 5GHz and dual band wireless LAN platforms, in a stock deal worth $133 million. www.rfmd.com

RF Micro Devices has been a CED member since 1995.

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etrials and Araccel in Merger Agreement


Morrisville-based etrials, Inc., a leading provider of technologies and services for clinical trial data management, and Araccel Corporation, a leading global eClinical Solutions company headquartered in Horsham, PA, and with offices in Cary and the UK, have announced a definitive agreement to merge the two companies, on or before November 30, 2002, pending shareholder approval. The new company will operate under the name etrials Worldwide, Inc.

The companies also announced that Fred Nazem, chairman of Araccel, would become Executive Chairman of the combined entities and John Cline, former president of etrials, will be accepting the CEO role. The two companies, each a leader in the rapidly expanding electronic clinical trials market, will join forces to further develop and market comprehensive eClinical technology and service capabilities for the entire clinical trial process undertaken by pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies. www.etrials.com

etrials has been a CED member since 2000.

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Elogex Raises $17M


Charlotte-based Elogex, Inc., a leading provider of collaborative logistics solutions, has received $17 million of new growth capital from an investor group led by New York-based Fenway Partners. The additional capital will enable Elogex to aggressively pursue its next phase of development and allow the company to expand its infrastructure to support its increasing customer base.

In connection with the funding, Elogex also said that it has expanded its management team, naming Jerry Overcash as its executive vice president, Bill Donner as its chief information officer, and Ken McAloon as its chief scientist. Founded in 1999, Elogex has offices in Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, and Hartford, CT. Including this fourth funding round, Elogex has raised $34 million to date. www.elogex.com

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Waveguide Raises Money from SEI and Academy


Charlotte-based Waveguide Solutions, a leader in the development of lightwave materials and solutions for the optoelectronics industry, has completed an initial close on its latest round of venture financing. The round was lead by Morrisville's Southeast Interactive Technology Funds and Academy Venture Funds of RTP and Charlotte. Proceeds will be used to support continued validation efforts with current optoelectronic customers and to continue to build the management and operations team. All parties involved declined to disclose the amount of the investment. www.waveguidesolutions.com

Waveguide Solutions has been a CED member since 2001.

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FullSeven Raises Undisclosed Amount of Venture Cash


RTP-based FullSeven Technologies has completed a new round of funding. Led by Raleigh's Southern Capitol Ventures, the additional funding is projected to take the company to profitability in mid to late 2003. Said FullSeven CEO Ken Arneson, "With this funding in place, we can continue to execute on our business strategy and focus on the ever increasing customer and partner interest in our LetterMark technology." www.fullseven.com

FullSeven has been a CED member since 1999.

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UNC-CH Selects Life Sci Investor to Head New $20M Fund


Sources at the University of N.C. at Chapel Hill report that a veteran life sciences investor has been chosen to lead a new venture capital fund being formed by the University of North Carolina. J. Michael Schafer, formerly a partner with Tullis-Dickerson & Co., has been named fund manager for Carolina Ventures, an expected $20 million fund that is focused on investing in exciting start-up companies coming out of the Office of Technology Development at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Schafer headed the Southwest regional office of Tullis-Dickerson, a Greenwich, CT-based venture firm that specializes in funding biotechnology, bioinformatics, and medical devices startups. Operating out of Santa Fe, NM, he coordinated deals on the West Coast and in Colorado, Utah, and Texas. Tullis-Dickerson was founded in 1986 and also has regional offices in Birmingham, AL, and Ann Arbor, MI. www.unc.edu

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Serenex to Collaborate with Johnson & Johnson to Uncover New Drug Targets


Sources at Durham-based Serenex say the company has signed an agreement with Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development (JJPRD) of New Brunswick, NJ, to use its proteome mining technology to uncover new drug targets. Serenex says the objective of its collaboration with JJPRD is to evaluate its new and enabling proteome mining technology to identify drug compounds that interact with pharmaceutically important protein targets and to uncover new drug targets.

The collaboration will take advantage of Serenex's abilities to screen drugs using functional proteome fractionation in an automated and parallel systems technology. Serenex will use its proteome mining and functional proteome fractionation technologies to screen compounds supplied by JJPRD against thousands of potential protein targets simultaneously. www.serenex.com

Serenex has been a CED member since 2002.

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Trimeris Names New President; FuzeonTM Receives Priority Review Status by FDA


Durham-based Trimeris (Nasdaq: TRMS) has named Dr. M. Nixon Ellis as the new president of Trimeris. Ellis formerly served as executive vice president and chief business officer. The role of Dani Bolognesi, the firm's chief executive officer, will not be changed by the promotion, Trimeris said in a statement. Ellis joined Trimeris in 2000. Formerly he was president and chief operating officer of Triangle Pharmaceuticals.

Also, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has notified Roche and Trimeris Inc. that the New Drug Application for FuzeonTM is fileable and has been granted priority review status. Designed for the treatment of HIV-1 in combination with other antiretroviral agents, FuzeonTM is the most clinically advanced in an investigational class of anti-HIV drugs called "fusion inhibitors," according to the companies. According to FDA policies and procedures, priority designation is granted to medications that, if approved, address unmet medical needs, offering a significant improvement in the safety or effectiveness of the treatment, diagnosis, or prevention of a serious or life-threatening disease. www.trimeris.com

Trimeris has been a CED member since 1998.

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Zoom Culture's "Hip Hop Nation" TV Show Signs National Deal


Chapel Hill-based Zoom Culture, a digital media company, announced that its "Hip Hop Nation," a weekly half-hour television program, has signed distribution deals with television stations in 42 of the nation's top 50 markets for 52 episodes starting on Nov. 1.

Founded in 1999, Zoom Culture specializes in producing and distributing original video content created by and for 18-34-year-olds. Stations that have signed to carry "Hip Hop Nation" include KTLA in Los Angeles, WBDC in Washington, DC, and WATL in Atlanta. www.zoomculture.com

Zoom Culture has been a CED member since 1999.

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Eight Research Triangle Companies Selected to Present at SEBIO


CED is proud to announce that eight out of seventeen companies selected to present at the 4th annual Southeastern Biotechnology Investor Forum (SEBIO) are from the Research Triangle. SEBIO is the Southeast's premiere life sciences investment conference. CED serves as an SEBIO organizational sponsor. SEBIO will be held December 4-5 in Atlanta.

"SEBIO is one of the best in the nation for life sciences investors," says CED president Monica Doss. "The strength and caliber of the entire collection of companies is a testament to the excellence of the southeastern biotech sector, and CED is pleased to see the strong representation from the Research Triangle."

The eight companies from the Research Triangle chosen to present are:

An additional sixteen companies were chosen to participate in Early Stage Interactive, a new conference program designed to provide early market feedback and mentoring to pre-investment companies as they begin to raise institutional funds. Raleigh's ADMETech and Durham's Phase Bio will represent North Carolina in this portion of the program.

SEBIO is an annual conference organized by the Southeastern Life Sciences Association (SELSA), comprised of seven states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee). The annual conference is for Southeastern high-growth life sciences companies and regional, national, and international investors. SEBIO's audience consists of leading biotechnology executives, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, investment bankers, and other industry professionals. For more about SEBIO, go to www.sebio.org

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Embrex on Forbes's "200 Best Small Companies in America" List for Third Time


RTP-based Embrex, Inc. (Nasdaq: EMBX), The In Ovo CompanySM, has been selected as one of the 200 Best Small Companies in America by Forbes Magazine for the third consecutive year. Embrex was ranked 74th among the 200 Best named in Forbes's October 28, 2002 issue. Forbes looked only at public companies with latest-12-month sales of $5 million to $600 million, a stock price above $5 per share, and five-year average return on equity (ROE) of at least 5%. Embrex ranked 32nd in the five-year average ROE category.

Growth notwithstanding, profitability was a must, and every nominee had to earn a net margin of at least 5%, excluding extraordinary and nonrecurring items, according to Forbes.com. A new feature this year was relative stock price strength. The idea was to help Forbes flag companies that were doing particularly well or poorly relative to their peers and the market indexes. Embrex, Inc., The In Ovo CompanySM, is an international agricultural biotechnology company focused on the global poultry industry. Details about Forbes's Best can be found in the October 28, 2002 issue, or online at www.forbes.com. For more information about Embrex, go to www.embrex.com

Embrex has been a CED member since 1999.

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SciQuest Ranked 38th Fastest-Growing Technology Company in North America


RTP-based SciQuest, Inc. (Nasdaq: SQST), a software, information, and services company that provides solutions to enhance research operations for pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and other research-based organizations, announced that it earned the number 38 slot on the 2002 Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over five years, from 1997-2001. SciQuest grew 11,742 percent during this period.

In addition to ranking on the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500, SciQuest ranked No. 1 on the North Carolina Technology Fast 50, which is a ranking of the 50 fastest-growing technology firms in North Carolina. Overall, companies that ranked on the 2002 Technology Fast 500 have growth rates ranging from 614 to 293,493 percent over five years, with an average growth rate of 6,772 percent. www.sciquest.com

SciQuest has been a CED member since 1998.

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N.C. Business Climate Receives Top Rank by Site Selection Magazine


North Carolina has ranked first for the second year in a row in Site Selection magazine's annual survey of state business climates. The survey takes into consideration the number of new and expanded business facilities opened during the previous two years, as well as the opinions of corporate real estate executives about which states they consider to be the most pro-business. Florida ranked 4th in the country, Georgia ranked 5th, and South Carolina ranked 6th. www.siteselection.com

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Events Update


November 11th — Biotech Forum

November 13th — CED Capital Connection Information Session

November 14th — New Member Orientation

November 14th — Healthcare Technology Forum

November 15th — CFO Roundtable

November 16th — Innovator's Quarterly Workshop

November 19th — HR Roundtable

November 19th — Marketing Roundtable

November 20th — CEO Roundtable

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