Press Releases
January 19, 2000 |
Contact: Cathy
Trask |
Second Deadline for CED's Venture 2000 Draws Near
February 4 Next Deadline for Companies to Apply to Participate in the Southeast's Largest Venture Capital Conference
January 19, 2000, Research Triangle Park, N.C. - With the largest venture capital conference in the Southeast only a few months away, the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) is now accepting its second round of applications from entrepreneurs for Venture 2000. The conference will be held May 10-11 at the Friday Center on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The seventeenth in a series of highly successful venture capital conferences, Venture 2000 is presented by CED, with support from the North Carolina Venture Capital Association and UNC-CH's Kenan-Flagler Business School.
Venture 2000 provides opportunities for qualified entrepreneurs to present their business plans to investors. Last year, Venture '99 drew a crowd of more than 800 people, including representatives of venture capital funds, private investors, corporations, banks, leasing companies and investment banking firms from across the United States and Canada.
High-growth companies seeking either early or later-stage financing should apply to present at Venture 2000. Companies that have presented in the past span many industries including health care services, computer software and hardware, medical devices, telecommunications, biotechnology, financial services, pharmaceuticals, advanced materials, wireless communications and the Internet.
"Nationally recognized as the Southeast's premier venture financing conference, Venture 2000 continues a 17-year tradition of showcasing the hottest investment opportunities and new technologies to venture capitalists and financiers from throughout the United States," says Monica Doss, CED's executive director. "Venture capital invested in the Triangle tripled in 1999 to more than $750 million and presenters from Venture '98 and Venture '99 alone raised $350 million of that total."
A committee of professional venture capitalists from throughout the Southeast reviews each application, selecting 30-40 companies to present at the conference in two sections: The Early Stage session on the afternoon of May 10 (for companies raising seed and first rounds) and Main Session on May 11 (for companies raising expansion rounds). All companies exhibit on May 11.
Selection is highly competitive and companies are encouraged to submit applications as early as possible. After the selection process is complete, guidance on developing the presentation and finalizing written materials will be available. More information and a program application can be found on CED's Web site at http://www.cednc.org/venture/2000/apply_intro.html.
About CED
The Council for Entrepreneurial Development, located at the CED Entrepreneurship Center in Research Triangle Park, NC, was formed in 1984 to stimulate the creation and growth of high-impact companies in the greater Research Triangle region. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs. CED sponsors annual conferences, seminars, workshops and monthly programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. CED also offers the FastTrac entrepreneurial training program, youth programs and other outreach programs.
CED is a private, non-profit organization and is the largest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 3,000 members representing 1000 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms.