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- Sencera Raises $3.6 Million
- Wakefield Group Joins Other Southeastern Funds in FrontStream Payments Deal
- NC Entrepreneurs Raised $909 Million in 2007
- Pozen’s Treximet wins FDA Approval
- Phase Bioscience Names Christopher Prior as CEO
- UNC Charlotte’s Five Ventures Winners Named
Sencera Raises $3.6 Million
Charlotte-based Sencera International (www.sencera.com)
has closed on $3.6 million in equity funding. The company
is focused on developing photovoltaic thin film technology
for use in solar power. The Quercus Trust, which invests
in renewable energy, led the financing.
Wakefield Group Joins Other Southeastern Funds in FrontStream
Payments Deal
Wakefield Group, Noro-Moseley Partners, SSM Partners
and Southpoint capital are coinvesting in $16 million round
of financing for FrontStream Payments along with company
management who also participated in the investment. FrontStream
works with clients to provide turnkey solutions for acceptance
of credit and debit cards as well as loyalty, gift and prepaid
cards. The company plans to use the funds for acquisitions
and expansion.
NC Entrepreneurs Raised $909 Million in 2007
The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) today
announced the results of the 2007 CED North Carolina Venture
Report in conjunction with the start of Venture 2008, CED’s
25th annual venture conference in Durham. According to the
report, Nrth Carolina companies raised more than $900 million
in venture capital investments--a 72% increase over 2006.
Nationally, venture capital increased by 16% over 2006.
Key findings for North Carolina include:
- North Carolina was the southeastern leader with Florida joining in the top 10 and Georgia at 14th for a strong southeastern presence.
- Seed and early stage investment increased from $98 million in 2006 to $127 million in 2007 and from 25 deals to 41 in 2007, reversing a declining trend.
- NC’s average deal size continued to increase --$10.47 million as compared to $7.71 million nationally. And investments greater than $10 million accounted for 77% of the total dollars invested statewide, compared to 75% in 2006.
- North Carolina’s technology sector outpaced the life sciences sector for only the second time since 2001 with investments in technology companies comprising 54% of all investments made in North Carolina. NC moved solidly up the ranking nationally in the tech sector. Within the technology industry, software and telecommunications were leading market sectors.
- Triangle companies accounted for 87.5% of total dollars raised statewide, compared to 66% in 2006. The Triad raised 6.47% of the state’s dollars in 2007, compared to 0.9% in 2006. Charlotte decreased from raising 27.1% of the state’s dollars in 2006 to raising 5.7% in 2007.
“North Carolina’s gains are impressive and reflect our long term commitment to enabling entrepreneurial success,” notes Monica Doss, President of the CED. “The strong increases in seed and early stage deals bode well for a strong pipeline. As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of CED’s venture conference, we are gratified that two thirds of the top 15 deals were recent presenters.”
The 2007 CED North Carolina Venture Report is available at www.cednc.org/resources/reports_and_surveys/vc_report/.
Pozen’s Treximet wins FDA Approval
Chapel-Hill-based Pozen (www.pozen.com, NASDAQ:POZN)
has won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
for the Treximet migraine drug it developed with GlaxoSmithKline, the
company said late Tuesday. Pozen and GSK expect to launch
Treximet in mid-May. It is the first drug on the market
for Pozen and will be the successor drug to Imitrex -- a
current blockbuster with more than $1 billion in sales.
Phase Bioscience Names Christopher Prior as CEO
Christopher Prior is the new chief executive officer
at Phase Bioscience (www.phasebio.com), replacing
M. Nixon Ellis who left to become CEO at Argolyn Bioscience.
Prior was chief scientific officer at BioRexis and also
founded Principia Pharmaceuticals and was an executive at
Human Genome Sciences, which acquired Principia. Investors
in PhaseBio include Hatteras, Fletcher Spaght Venture Partners
and Johnson and Johnson Development.
UNC Charlotte’s Five Ventures Winners Named
CED FastTrac Tech alumni, Cary-based Wisteme was
the winner in the information-technology category in the
seventh annual UNC Charlotte Five Ventures entrepreneurial
business competition sponsored by UNC Charlotte's Belk College
of Business, the N.C. Research Campus and the N.C. Biotechnology
Center. Startup companies compete for a chance to win more
than $100,000 in cash and in-kind services.
Other winners included IRealtyManager.com as service and retail winner and Virtual Officer in the student and nonprofit category, both of Charlotte, GOPS Group International in biotechnology, a Saluda-based company that conducts business under the name AlgaMax, and Filigree Nanotechnology Inc. from Winston-Salem in the field of nanotechnology.
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