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MicroMass Closes on $7 Million in Venture Funding


Cary-based MicroMass Communications, Inc., a developer of software and services for relationship marketing for the healthcare industry, closed on $7 million in third round venture funding. Investors included Gray Ventures, Inc., Jefferson Capital Partners I, L.P., Johnson & Johnson Development Corp., SR One, Limited, and Tristate Investment Group II, LLC.

The company plans to use the funds to expand sales and marketing activities as well as product development. Earlier this month, MicroMass relocated to a new facility more than twice the size of its previous home to accommodate the company's growth.

MicroMass' software technology and services enable healthcare organizations and pharmaceutical companies to deliver share-of-customer solutions that communicate highly personalized information on an ongoing basis to every individual in a large and diverse customer base through the appropriate media, including printed materials and personalized Web sites. The company's clients include SmithKline Beecham, Glaxo Wellcome, American Heart Association and Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Promising Software Start-Up Raindrop Geomagic Relocates to RTP Area


Promising Illinois software company Raindrop Geomagic is planning to relocate to the Triangle early next year. In addition to the 17 employees moving with the company, Raindrop has hired a new CEO from the Triangle area--former NetEdge CEO Jon Fjeld.

Raindrop's co-founder and chief technology officer, Ping Fu, is moving down with the company. Fu once worked at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, where she helped initiate the Internet browser project known as Mosaic. That project spawned Netscape and helped unleash the Internet explosion.

Joining Fu is her husband and Raindrop co-founder, Herbert Edelsbrunner, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois. Edelsbrunner has accepted a teaching position at Duke University for fall 1999.

The software that Raindrop markets is based on work that Edelsbrunner pioneered and is some of the most advanced 3D modeling projects available, with uses ranging from the fields of medical research to computer animation for movies.

Salomon Smith Barney's Neil J. Herman Keynote for Software '98


Neil J. Herman

is the keynote speaker for Software '98, the Southeast's premier software industry conference. CED's eighth annual software conference, Software '98 showcases the best of North Carolina's $3-billion information technology industry. The conference will be held on October 16, 1998, at the Kenan Flagler Business School's McColl Building on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Herman is vice president, equity research for Salomon Smith Barney. In this position he is the lead analyst for such companies as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Software AG, Advent Software, BMCS Software, Baan Company and Peoplesoft. He appears on CNN, CNNFS, CNBC and other national television reports as an expert in software markets, and is quoted in Barrons, the Wall Street Journal, New York Time, Fortune, Infoweek and similar publications.

Software '98 brings together software entrepreneurs, CEOs and executives primarily from the Research Triangle area and other Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to learn about business and technology trends and software/Internet business "how to's." Last year, 450 people attended the conference. Register now! For more information, contact Evelyn Hughes.

Apply Now for FastTrac--Applications Due September 11th


Are you an entrepreneur planning to start a company?
Are you an entrepreneur looking to grow your existing company?
Get your business on the right track with FastTrac II, a comprehensive business training program created for individuals who are in the start-up phase or seeking to grow their existing businesses. Apply online! Application deadline is September 11, 1998, for the fall session starting September 24, 1998. Classes will meet each Tuesday for 11 weeks from 5:30 to 9:00 p.m. (dinner included) at the CED Entrepreneurship Center. Participants will complete a comprehensive business plan for their companies in FastTrac II. For more information, contact Suzanne Cantando.

Learn From the Pros at CED's Mergers & Acquisitions Seminar on September 15th


Hear from the experts on the ins and outs of mergers and acquisitions, including valuation in the mergers and acquisitions process, accounting and tax aspects, and war stories of recent mergers and acquisitions at Mergers & Acquisitions 1998 on September 15, 1998, from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Carolina Club on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The seminar is presented by CED and sponsored by Bowne of Charlotte, Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP and Smith Helms Mulliss & Moore, LLP. Registration begins at 1:00 p.m. The program will be followed by a networking reception from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. For more information, contact Evelyn Hughes.

Check Out Upcoming CED Programs and Events!


Biotechnology Roundtable: New Biotech/Life Sciences Company Introductions

Date: September 14, 1998
Time: 5:30-7:00 p.m.
Location: North Carolina Biotechnology Center
Contact: Bill Spruill

All small startup companies face a number of similar initial issues; biotechnology companies often have additional issues unique to the industry. The first Biotechnology Roundtable of this fall will highlight four new companies that are making North Carolina their corporate home. These include spin-offs from universities and corporations, and repeat entrepreneurs with new technology. Each company has been involved in fund raising, hiring and negotiating for lab/office space.

Member Meeting: Employee Benefits/Insurance
Date: September 15, 1998
Time: 7:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Location: CED Entrepreneurship Center
Contact: Bill Spruill
Register: http://www.cednc.org/applications/MemberProgram.html

How to Spice Up Your Bottom Line: Cash Isn't the Only Way to Attract Them. Are you having trouble attracting and keeping employees you need to make the organization go and the bottom line grow?
Join us for the September Member Program to discuss the employee benefits issue.

  • Learn more about what employees consider important when they start thinking about taking a job or leaving the job they are in.

  • Learn what needs to be provided at the startup, the growth to keep your employees healthy.

  • Hear how to communicate the true value of your benefits package to your team.

New Member Orientation
Date: September 24, 1998
Time: 7:30 - 9:00 a.m.
Location: MD/Win Corporation, Raleigh
Contact: Heather Quinn
Register: http://www.cednc.org/applications/new_member.html

New members are invited to join CED staff and members at bimonthly new member orientations. Take the opportunity to network with veteran members, meet the staff, and learn more about what CED has to offer, as well as tell us more about your business. New CED members are encouraged to attend a New Member Orientation within their first six months of membership but are welcome anytime. The orientations are hosted by CED members around the Triangle area.

STREAK Venture Forum Quarterly Luncheon
Date: September 22, 1998
Time: Noon - 1:30 p.m.
Location: Sheraton Imperial, RTP
Contact: Suzanne Cantando
Register: http://www.cednc.org/applications/StreakLuncheon.html

Register now for CED's quarterly STREAK Luncheon. STREAK, CED's venture forum program, assists early-stage, high-growth companies that are seeking equity investment in developing their business strategies.