CED Releases Full Agenda for Tech Venture 2015

Event Featuring 100+ of NC’s Hottest Emerging & Growth-Stage Companies
Will Attract Investors from More than 50 Funds Across the Country,
Feature Keynotes by Nation’s Top Thought Leaders And Tackle Hot Topics Such as Diversity, Crowdfinance
And Scaling Up to Reach Global Markets

 DURHAM, NC, Sept. 10, 2015 – The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), the largest and longest-running network for entrepreneurs in the country, today released its full agenda for the CED Tech Venture Conference 2015. This year’s event will feature more than 100 of North Carolina’s hottest emerging and growth-stage technology companies, attract more than 50 venture capital, strategic and angel funds across the nation and feature talks by some of the nation’s top thought leaders on hot topics such as diversity, crowdfinance and scaling up in a global marketplace.

The conference, which annually attracts more than 800 people, has become a “Who’s Who” of the nation’s technology industry – from the most exciting emerging tech companies to the most influential investors and tech leaders. It will be held Sept. 15–16 at the Raleigh Convention Center.

This year’s conference theme is #ScalingUp, a topic that has sparked a national conversation about how to unlock the power of entrepreneurship by supporting growth-stage companies more aggressively.

“Once again, the Tech Venture Conference is the place to connect with North Carolina’s most innovative companies, the nation’s most powerful investors and the most respected thought leaders in the tech world,” said CED President and CEO Joan Siefert Rose. “Our main stage will be packed with people who know what it takes to scale up because they’ve done it. We’ll also be tackling the hottest topics in tech, such as diversity, crowdfinance and culture.”

The conference attracts a broad sweep of national venture capital firms, angel investors, corporate and strategic investors, representatives from North Carolina’s top universities, entrepreneurial companies from across the state, and community partners.

The conference co-chairs are Ed Paradise, RTP site executive, Cisco Systems, and Jud Bowman, founder of Appia.

The full conference agenda can be found at: http://www.cednc.org/techventure/agenda

Pre-Conference Media Briefing: Innovators Report – Sept. 15, 9:30 a.m.

A 9:30 a.m. pre-conference media briefing will be held Tuesday, Sept. 15, just before the 1 p.m. start of the conference. CED will release a Mid-Year Update to its Innovators Report, which tracks entrepreneurial activity in North Carolina.

WHAT:            Innovators Report Media Briefing

WHO:             Joan Siefert Rose, president and CEO, CED; Dhruv Patel, director of investor relations, CED

WHEN:           Tuesday, Sept. 15, at 9:30 a.m.

WHERE:          Room 204, Raleigh Convention Center, 500 S. Salisbury St., Raleigh, N.C. 27601

This mid-year update will detail investments in North Carolina entrepreneurial companies in the life science, technology, cleantech and advanced manufacturing and materials sectors during the first six months of 2015.

CED’s proprietary Innovators Report tracks data not readily available elsewhere. CED leverages its deep relationships with companies and investors, and its partnerships with organizations and sources such as the National Venture Capital Association, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree Report to gather, analyze and report these data. In addition to absolute numbers, the report uncovers trends in the entrepreneurial sector.

Featured Speakers

Day 1 – Tuesday, September 15

The conference will feature an opening-day address by Rebecca Jacoby, senior vice president and chief of operations for Cisco. Her address is titled “Scaling from the Inside Out: How Culture, Leadership, and Relationships Drive Growth.”

The first day will also feature a main-stage segment titled “Small Talks, Big Thoughts,” emceed by Lee Congdon, chief information officer for Red Hat. Billed as “TED-inspired entrepreneurial wisdom,” topics include:

  • “Moving at the Speed of Disruption,” by Snehal Antani, chief technology officer, Splunk
  • “The Data Behind Crowdfinance,” by Luan Cox, founder and CEO, Crowdnetic
  • “Going Global: Scaling in a Borderless World,” by William Morton, Jr., vice president, WL Ross & Co. LLC

The day will round out with the main-stage panel “Beyond VC: What About Growth Equity?” It will be moderated by Tony Atti, president and CEO of Phononic. The panelists are:

  • Alan Cline, principal, Vista Equity Partners
  • Alex Stratoudakis, vice president, Warburg Pincus
  • Robbie Allen, founder and CEO, Automated Insights
  • Kent Hudson, CEO, Dude Solutions

Day 2 – Wednesday, September 16

David Morken, co-founder and CEO of Bandwidth, will offer insights for companies that are scaling up in an address titled “Been There, Learned That: Perspectives of a #ScaledUp CEO.”

Renowned investor Jim Goetz, partner at Sequoia Capital, and Steve Nelson, co-founder of Carbon3D, will lead a main-stage conversation titled “Aspiring to be Legendary.”

Day two will close out with “A Seat at the Table: Driving Innovation through Inclusivity,” with moderator Wayne Sutton, general partner with BUILDUP.vc, and featured speakers Steve Neff, chief technology officer for Fidelity Investments, and speaker, strategist and investor Kelly Hoey.

Featured Companies

The conference offers the opportunity to interact with North Carolina companies at all stages of growth:

  • Showcase – Fourteen showcase companies, considered the “best of the best,” have been selected to tell their story on the main stage in front of over 800 attendees.
  • Lightning Round – This year, because of the overwhelming number of worthy applications, the selection committee decided to create a new category. In addition to the showcase companies presenting on the main stage, the committee selected 17 early-stage companies to present on the main stage during a “lightning round.”
  • Demo – Nearly 80 of the most exciting early-stage companies have also been invited to demonstrate their products and technologies in the Demo Room at the conference.

This year’s featured companies hail from places all over North Carolina, including: Aberdeen, Apex, Asheville, Burlington, Candler, Carrboro, Cary, Chapel Hill, Charlotte, Clayton, Durham, Fuquay-Varina, Greensboro, Indian Trail, Morrisville, Mount Airy, Pittsboro, Raleigh, Research Triangle Park, Rocky Mount, Wake Forest, Weaverville and Wilmington.

These companies highlight North Carolina’s diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem, representing a variety of sectors that include big data, IoT/connected devices/wearables, mobile, social, e-commerce/marketplace, cleantech/energy, consumer products, digital health, data storage/cloud, ad tech, and many more.

More information about the selected companies can be found here: http://www.cednc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/CED-Announces–100-Showcase-Lightning-Round-Demo-Companies-for-TVC–15.pdf

Investors

The conference is drawing a diverse set of investors as well, including private equity funds, venture funds, angels, corporate investors and strategics – all the major asset classes. The wide variety of investors attending the conference can translate into investments that range from Series A to growth capital.

Investors confirmed to attend the conference hail from across the country, including firms with a presence in New York City, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Boston, San Francisco and more. Among those expected to attend:

  • North Bridge Growth Equity
  • Sequoia Capital
  • Vista Equity Partners
  • Warburg Pincus
  • Verizon Ventures
  • WL Ross & Co.
  • Comcast Ventures
  • Revolution Ventures
  • Safeguard Scientifics

More information about investors expected to attend can be found here:

http://www.cednc.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Investors-from–50-Funds-Across-the-Country-Expected-to-Attend-CED-Tech-Venture-Conference–2015.pdf

About CED

CED is the largest and longest-running network for entrepreneurs in the country. CED’s network propels emerging Triangle companies into highly successful businesses. Members include a wide range of startup and growth stage companies, investors, corporate partners, academics, service providers, and individuals interested in benefiting from CED’s powerfully connected network. Read more at http://www.cednc.org.

Conference website: http://www.cednc.org/techventure/

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