Venture Update Vol. X, #12, December 2006
Done Deals
RTP – Pfizer Animal Health (www.pfizer.com) acquired Embrex, Inc. (www.embrex.com) for approximately $155 million. The two companies expect to complete the acquisition in the first quarter of 2007. The merger will dedicate some of Pfizer’s research investment towards developing new vaccines that will address unmet needs of poultry producers and their birds. Contact Randall Marcuson (919.941.5185).
RTP – LVL7 Systems (www.lvl7.com), a developer of networking software, was acquired for $62 million in cash by Broadcom. Broadcom is based in California and produces semiconductors for wired and wireless communications.The combination will bring together LVL7’s software expertise with Broadcom networking products for small and medium-sized businesses Contact Gennis Lafayette (408.543.3413).
Charlotte– NewHope Bariatrics, Inc. (www.newhopebariatrics.com), an obesity surgery company, received $18.5 million in debt and equity financing from three institutional investors: Austin Ventures, Versant Ventures and Square 1 Bank. The company will use these funds to develop and operate ambulatory surgery centers focused on the treatment of obesity using the Lap-Band® system. NewHope Bariatrics will own and operate these centers in partnership with leading bariatric surgeons in markets across the United States. Contact David Crane (704.926.655).
Charlotte – Bariatric Partners (www.bariatricpartners.com), a developer of surgical facilities obesity, has raised $12 million in its second round of venture capital. The funds will be used to develop and operate ambulatory surgery centers. Investors in the company’s latest investment deal include Frazier Healthcare Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and Woodbrook Capital. Contact Edmund Bujalski (704.542.2256).
Charlotte – FairPoint Communications, Inc. (www.fairpoint.com) has completed its $10.2 million merger with the Ohio-based Germantown Independent Telephone Company (GITC). GITC is the third company owned and operated by FairPoint in Ohio. FairPoint’s mission is to acquire and operate telecommunications companies that set the standard of excellence for the delivery of service to rural communities. Contact Jennifer Sharpe (704.227.3629).
Durham – Cyberlux Corporation (www.cyberlux.com), a provider of LED lighting solutions, has acquired SPE Technologies, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of UTEK Corporation for an undisclosed amount in a restricted stock transaction. Prior to the acquisition, SPE Technologies, Inc. held the worldwide exclusive license to a number of pending patents for the Scattered Photon Extraction™(SPE) methodology, developed at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Contact Ronnie Welch (508.222.4802).
Raleigh – Hosted Solutions (www.hostedsolutions.com), a provider of managed hosting and data center services, has acquired Boston Datacenters, Inc. (www.bostondatacenters.com), for an undisclosed amount. Privately-held Hosted Solutions also runs three SAS 70 Type II certified data centers, located in Charlotte, Cary and Raleigh, N.C. In addition to continuing to provide managed hosting and collocation services to Boston Datacenter customers, the company will offer expanded capabilities, including dedicated servers, managed storage, managed load balancing, business continuity and managed security services. Contact Kim Knoblauch (919.557.7890).
RTP – Talecris Biotherapeutics (www.talecrisbio.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of Talecris, Inc., signed a purchase acquisition agreement with International BioResources, LLC (IBR) to acquire IBR’s plasma sourcing centers in 21 states in the U.S. for an undisclosed amount. Talecris will incorporate the 58 centers acquired from IBR into their expansion plans in plasma sourcing. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Talecris expects to complete the acquisition within the next 30 to 60 days, subject to a series of regulatory approvals. Contact Lacy McMahon (919.316.6316).
Morrisville – Sicel Technologies (www.siceltech.com), a privately held developer and manufacturer of implantable sensors and surface dosimeters, has raised $7 million in convertible debt. The company focuses on developing pioneering implantable products targeted at improving delivery of cancer treatments. Sicel’s sensors are designed to offer physicians a way of obtaining real time feedback about the biological and physiological changes in patients’ cell and organ systems. Contact Michael Riddle (919.465.2236).
[ top ]
On The Up
Preation
Durham, NC
Preation is a Web site services company that web-based solutions to meet a variety of business challenges and bring new opportunities to its clients through the power of the Internet.
Founded in 1997, the company takes it name from the synthesis of the words Web ‘page' and 'creation.'
In its nine years of business, Preation has provided over 300 businesses with web design, web development, and web marketing assistance.
Today, Preation continues to build a track record of helping businesses succeed on the Internet through a mix of its professional services and proprietary software tools.
At CED’s Tech 2006 Conference in October, Preation was given the opportunity to demo one of the company’s latest and hottest innovations.
Clickscapes, a Web analytics product, tracks Web site visitor behavior and displays it in real time as a visual heat map overlay.
Clickscapes combines both cross-page and on-page user action tracking to build visual user behavior reports.
By tracking visitors’ clicks, how long it takes them to click, and where their mouse moves before they click, marketers can learn how they have reacted to a page's design and layout.
"Clickscapes allows savvy web marketers to learn, plan, and then design with an inherent understanding of their online audience," said Aaron Houghton, President of Preation.
"The Internet has some fundamental advantages over other mediums when it comes to tracking and online marketing has provided the first opportunity most businesses have ever had to track and improve their campaigns as diligently as they plan them."
The Web-based analytics product helps online marketers track and improve the effectiveness of Web site content and ads by providing them a new level of insight into how their online visitors make decisions.
By allowing web marketers to view easy-to-understand visual user behavior heat maps based on website visitor actions, Clickscapes fills in the gap where traditional web analytics products fall short. Contact Aaron Houghton (919.967.8566).
[ top ]
New Developments
Durham – Phase Bioscience, Inc. (www.phasebio.com), has concluded a Licensing Agreement with Duke University for the acquisition of certain intellectual property associated with the delivery of therapeutic agents based on ELP technology. Under the terms of the agreement PhaseBio will have worldwide rights to use the technology to develop its own portfolio of products as well as enter into third party arrangements for co-development and licensing. Contact Gabriel R. Cipau, PhD (919.271.0926).
Charlotte – Peak 10 (www.peak10.com), a data center operator and managed services provider, has renewed its service agreement with LendingTree, LLC. The leading independent data center operator and managed services company will continue to host the LendingTree online lending exchange out of its data center in Charlotte. Since inception, LendingTree has facilitated more than 20 million loan requests and $152 billion in closed loan transactions. Contact Ed Levens (919.863.2393).
Raleigh – Accipiter (www.accipiter.com), a provider of online advertising server technology, has signed a technology licensing deal with Mobile Phone Applications (MoPhap), a mobile ad server technology provider and publisher. MoPhap, will integrate Accipiter’s online ad management solution into its SparkMobileT Network. The service is designed to deliver ads to mobile data users. Contact Molly Thompson (919.605.0022).
RTP – RTI International (www.rti.org), a non-profit research organization, was awarded a three-year, $4 million cooperative agreement from the U.S. Department of Energy National Energy Technology Laboratory (DOC NETL) to continue the development of a carbon dioxide capture technology based on an inexpensive, dry, reusable sorbent. The technology, developed by RTI for the past five years, is designed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions at coal-fired power plants as well as natural gas plans, cement plants and petroleum refineries. Contact Lisa Bistreich (919.316.3596).
Chapel Hill– AAIPharma Inc. (www.aaipharma.com) has raised $30 million by way of a rights offering to existing shareholders and option holders. The offering was supported by a group of principal shareholders led by JPMorgan. The proceeds will be used to accelerate and enhance the development and growth of the company’s core service business. Contact Luke Heagle (910.254.7066).
RTP – The N.C. Biotechnology Center (www.ncbiotech.org), the world's first government-sponsored organization dedicated to developing the biotechnology industry, has announced a new grant program that will provide up to $75,000 in individual grants to universities and non-profit institutes throughout the state. The program is designed to help bioscience researchers in the state to “kick-start” their work. The purpose of grant revenue is to help generate preliminary data that will attract investors with the ultimate goal of commercializing their technology. Contact Barry Teater (919.549.8814).
Durham– Argos Therapeutics (www.argostherapeutics.com), a private biotechnology company, was awarded a $21 million contract to develop novel HIV immunotherapy candidates from the National Institutes of Health. The goal of the multi-million dollar contract is to determine the immunogenicity of Argos’ HIV immunotherapy candidate, currently in clinical trials, and subsequently develop even more potent next-generation product candidates. Contact Jeff Abbey (919.287.6308).
Durham – Affinergy (www.affinergy.com), a developer of site-specific biological systems, has formed a multi-year strategic alliance with the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF), a not-for-profit consortium of academic medical institutions. Affinergy will be working exclusively with MTF in the field of human allograft on a worldwide basis. Contact Peyton Anderson (919.433.2229).
[ top ]
In the Pipeline
Holly Springs – CubeShield, Inc. (www.cubeshield.com), marketer of the CubeShield product, has been granted U.S. Patent 7,117,802 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patent covers the CubeShield product, which blocks out excessive overhead lighting while providing added personalization and privacy to office cubicles. The product improves employee comfort and satisfaction while preventing potential vision problems. Contact Gary Hoke (919.244.8898).
Raleigh– LaamScience (www.laamscience.com), a N.C. State University spin-out, announced that laboratory testing of a novel, permanent nano-coating, has been shown to kill or inactivate most viruses and bacteria when exposed to visible light. Early tests have shown that the coating kills 99.9 percent of influenza viruses and 99.99 percent of vaccinia virus, which causes rash, fever, head and body aches. N.C. State has applied for a patent on the invention, which has been licensed to LaamScience, Inc. Contact Tom Roberg (919.872.5601).
Cary – Cornerstone BioPharma, (www.cornerstonebiopharma.com), the specialty pharmaceutical company focused on niche respiratory prescription medications, has obtained exclusive U.S. licensing rights from leading Japanese pharmaceutical company Meiji Seika Kaisha for Spectracef (cefditoren pivoxil). Cornerstone BioPharma’s seasoned sales force will begin promotion and sale of Spectracef to primary care providers, allergists and otolaryngologists nationwide. Spectracef is a cephalosporin oral antibiotic used to treat adults and adolescents with certain bacterial infections of the lungs, throat and skin. Contact Jonathan Jordan (919.557.7890).
Durham – Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (www.inspirepharm.com) and FAES Farma, S.A. have signed a licensing agreement for the U.S. and Canadian development and commercialization of bilastine, a Phase 3 oral antihistamine compound for the treatment or prevention of allergic rhinitis, a condition affecting approximately 40 million people in the United States. Under the terms of the agreement, Inspire has acquired exclusive rights to further develop and commercialize oral formulations of bilastine in the United States and Canada, as well as the exclusive right to develop and commercialize the ocular formulation in various markets worldwide. Contact Dan Budwick (212.477.9007).
Raleigh – Inlet Technologies (www.inlethd.com), a developer of solutions for compression and other digital media solutions, is launching a new delivery product. Called Spinnaker, the product is designed for live transmission of content utilizing Internet Protocol television, web streaming, broadband TV and other formats. Inlet unveiled Spinnaker at a TV conference and expo in Texas. Contact Shawn Ramsey (919.782.3262).
Mark Your Calendar!
CED's
Venture 2007 Conference
April 24-25, 2007
Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club
Durham, NC
Biotech 2007 Conference
May 14-15, 2007
Durham Marriott at the Civic Center
Durham, NC
Venture Update is published by the
Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED)
an entrepreneurial support organization located in the Research Triangle Park, N.C.
Robert Albright, editor
P.O. Box 13353, RTP, NC 27709
Phone: 919-549-7500
FAX: 919-549-7405
email: news@cednc.org