October 2008 Archives

CED Members Top NC Public Companies

Business NC revealed the top 75 public companies headquartered in North Carolina. Among the top 25, eight (8) are CED members including the top two: Bank of America and Wachovia. Also in the list are Duke Energy, BB&T, Progress Energy, Red Hat and Cree, Inc.

Cree Sales up 24%

Despite all signs indicating a slowing economy, Durham-based Cree, Inc. reported 24% revenue growth to $140.4 million. The company projects revenue continued growth despite uncertainties in the market based on ever increasing demand for energy efficient lighting.

Cree recently joined CED as a grantor level member.

Red Hat Acquires Qumranet for $107 Million

Red Hat, Inc., the leading provider of open source solutions, has acquired Israeli-based Qumranet, Inc. for $107 million. The acquisition includes Qumranet's virtualization solutions, including its KVM (Kernel Virtual Machine) platform and SolidICE offering, a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), which together present a comprehensive virtualization platform for enterprise customers. This acquisition advances Red Hat's efforts to transform the virtualization market and drive comprehensive virtualization technology and management solutions into every system, from servers to desktops, on both Linux and Windows.

Red Hat, Inc. has been a CED member since 2004. The company sponsored CED's Globalization 2008 conference and CED's Tech Conference from 2005 through 2007.

iContact Secures $5 Million from North Atlantic Capital

Durham-based, iContact, the leading provider of on-demand email marketing services for small and mid-sized businesses secured $5 million in debt funding from North Atlantic Capital, a Maine-based venture capital firm. This new investment will be used primarily for sales and marketing to accelerate customer acquisition and to expand the team to support iContact's rapidly growing business.

iContact has been a CED member since 2005 and has continued to increase its support of the organization since. In addition to headline sponsorships for CED's Venture 2009, Venture 2008 and CED's 2008 Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards, CEO Ryan Allis is a member of CED's Board of Directors.

Pappas Ventures Co-leads $15 Million Series B Round in CeNeRx

Pappas Ventures, a Durham based venture capital firm, co-led a $15 million Series B round for CeNeRx BioPharma, a Cary-based, biopharmaceutical company developing and commercializing innovative treatments for diseases of the central nervous system. This investment brings the total investment in CeNeRx to $33 million. The funds will be used for the phase II clinical trials of novel antidepressant Tyrima™.

Pappas Ventures has been an active CED member and supporter since 1996. In addition to contributing to CED's Innovation to Impact campaign at the supporter level, the company has sponsored CED's Biotech and Venture conferences and the Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards every year since 2005. CeNeRx CEO, Barry Brand, presented at CED's Venture 2007 conference.

SJF Invests in Clean Technology

SJF Ventures, a Durham-based venture capital firm focusing on the cleantech, technology-enhanced services and premium consumer products sectors, is investing $1.6 million in CleanScapes, a clean technology firm headquartered in Seattle. The SJF investment is part of a $10 million Series A round. The investment will aid CleanScapes in its mission to be recognized as the leader in socially responsible streetscape management and waste reduction, recycling and collection services.

SJF Ventures has been a CED member since 1996.

IBM Launches New Reseach Lab in Shanghai

IBM launched a new research lab in Shanghai in an effort to boost its R&D strength in one of the world's fastest growing countries. The IBM Shanghai research lab, located at Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park in Pudong New Area, will serve to help IBM attract more talent from southern China. In response to opening the new facility in Shanghai, John Kelly, IBM senior vice-president and director of IBM Research was quoted by WRAL LocalTechWire as saying, "The very nature of research is changing. It is more open, more global and more collaborative."

IBM has been a CED member since 2001. In addition to contributing to CED's Innovation to Impact campaign at the partner level, the company sponsored CED's Biotech and Venture conferences in 2005 and CED's Biotech and Infotech conferences in 2006. In November, IBM's John Kelly is speaking to a select group of triangle area business, government and educational leader at CED.

Transite Inks Deal with Ellman

Transite Technology, a Raleigh-based provider of logistic and shipping cost-management software and services, has signed a multiyear contract with Ellman International, a primary manufacturer of medical surgical devices. Transite technologies will be deployed to help lower Ellman's cost of product delivery to its customers in the United States, Europe and Asia. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Transite Technology has been a CED member since 2004.

BioMedomics Receives $750,000 Phase II SBIR Contract

Local biotechnology company, BioMedomics, received a $750,000 Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract from the National Institutes of Health. The company was previously awarded a $25,000 North Carolina Biotechnology Center loan, and a $100,000 Phase I SBIR grant. BioMedomics will use the funds to demonstrate the scientific merit of its medical diagnostic technologies which include: reagents, assay instruments and data analysis tools targeting point-of-care personalized testing for specific disease biomarkers.

BioMedomics has been a member of CED since 2007. In addition to presenting at CED's Opportunity 2007 conference, company co-founder Frank Wang Ph.D., is a regular attendee of CED programs and events.

Cranky to Compete - Make Mine A Million $ Business

Barbra Denison of Cranky Creative Group was selected as one of the twenty business women finalists to compete for an awards package in the business growth program, Make Mine A Million $ Business. The event features female entrepreneurs from North and South Carolina who will compete for business development packages that include money, marketing, mentoring and technology assistance to help their businesses grow into million-dollar enterprises.

Cranky Creative Group is a relatively new member to CED, joining just this year. In June, Barbara and company vice president, Keoni Denison, took advantage of one of CED's premier programs, FastTrac® TechVenture™. Additionally, the company sponsored CED's Biotech 2008 conference.

The Park Headquarters Go Green

Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina and O'Brien/Atkins Associates, PA, announce that The Research Triangle Park Headquarters has been awarded LEED® Silver by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). LEED® was created by USGBC and is the leading rating system for sustainable green buildings. The 17,000-square foot Research Triangle Park Headquarters was designed by O'Brien/Atkins and completed in December 2007.

Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina has been a CED member since 1995. In addition to contributing to the Innovation to Impact campaign at the supporter level, the Foundation sponsored CED's Infotech 2006, Tech 2007, and Venture 2007 conferences. O'Brien/Atkins Associates, PA has been a CED member since 1999. Similar to the Research Triangle Foundation of North Carolina, the company has generously supported the Innovation to Impact campaign at the supporter level and has sponsored CED's conferences. The firm was a sponsor of CED's Biotech conference in 2005, 2006, 2007 and again in 2008.

Digitalsmiths Wins Streaming Media Readers' Award

Digitalsmiths, a digital video search and contextual ad-matching company, was awarded the Streaming Media Readers' award, as part of this years Reader's Choice Awards. The award ceremony presented more than 200 different products and services from more than 150 different companies from around the world. This accolade is one more affirmation that Digitalsmiths is one of the Triangles brightest shining stars. Since February of this year, the company was named one of Dow Jones' Top Companies to Watch in 2008 and was the recipient of Technology of the Year at CED's Entrepreneurial Excellence Awards.

Digitalsmiths has been an active CED member since 2006. The company demonstrated its technology, VideoSense™, at CED's Tech 2006 conference and CEO, Ben Wienberger, presented the company's business plan to investors at CED's Venture 2007 and 2008 conferences.

David Jones Named Partner at CED Member SCV

David Jones has become a full partner at Southern Capitol Ventures (SCV), a North Carolina-based early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to helping outstanding entrepreneurs build market-leading companies. David has been with SCV since 2005.

Southern Capitol Ventures is a long time CED member and supporter. As an employee of this member company, David Jones has been an active contributor to CED, its programs, and to the entrepreneurial community. Since 2005, David has spoken at CED programs on topics ranging from raising venture capital to commercialization of university technology. Additionally, he was a co-chairman of CED's Opportunity 2007 conference.