Venture Update Vol. X, #2, February 2006
Done Deals
Raleigh – rPath (www.rpath.com), a provider of the first platform for creating and maintaining Linux software appliances, has closed a $6.4 million round of venture financing. The Series A round was led by North Bridge Venture Partners and General Catalyst Partners out of Boston, Massachusetts. The company plans to use this capital to extend the market reach and penetration of its products in the rapidly growing Linux market. Contact Kristi Lee (919.844.3733).
Cary – A4Health Systems (www.a4healthsystems.com), the developer of software systems that consolidate health-care information and records, has been acquired by Chicago-based Allscripts (www.allscripts.com), a provider of clinical software, connectivity and information solutions that physicians use to improve healthcare, in a cash-and-stock deal worth $272 million. The acquisition of A4 will double Allscripts’ clinical software revenues and the size of its sales force. The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2006. Contact Dan Michelson (312.506.1217).
RTP – Metabolon, Inc. (www.metabolon.com), a company involved in the discovery of biomarkers using metabolomics, has closed on a $8 million Series B funding round. Palo Alto-based Sevin Rosen Funds led the round with participation from all existing investors including The Aurora Funds and The Trelys Funds. A new investor, Harris & Harris Group, also contributed to the financing. Metabolon plans to use the funds for commercialization of its patent-pending metabolomic technology. Contact Stephanie Ferrell (919.287.3359).
RTP – Integrian, Inc. (www.integrian.com), a developer of mobile digital video solutions, has acquired all issued shares of Australian technology company Innovonics Ltd. Innovonics' specialty is design, development, manufacture, project management and installation of transportation surveillance systems. Together, the two product groups represent a total solution in mobile digital video technology. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Contact Robin Potts (919. 472.5022).
RTP – Nextreme Thermal Solutions (www.nextremethermal.com), a manufacturer of embedded thermoelectric devices, has signed a strategic investment agreement with In-Q-Tel, a nonprofit venture-capital group funded by the CIA and U.S. Intelligence community. The undisclosed agreement will advance the development of products needed to solve pressing thermal management and power generation products of the government and commercial industries. Contact Bob Conner (919.485.2774).
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New Developments
Raleigh – N.C. State University (www.ncsu.edu) and IBM (www.ibm.com) have announced a new curriculum initiative in Services Sciences, Management and Engineering (SSME). The new academic initiative is designed to prepare graduate students for careers in the evolving multidisciplinary field of services management. N.C. State will be the first research university in the U.S. to launch a masters-level curriculum initiative in SSME, which was created in collaboration with IBM through its Academic Initiative program. Contact Anna Rzewnicki (919.513.4478).
Winston-Salem – Wake Forest University (www.wfu.edu) has signed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar deal with private regenerative medicine firm Tengion (www.tengion.com) to fund research and commercialization of Dr. Tony Atala's work in regenerative medicine. Tengion will fund research projects that focus on blood vessel and other vascular systems and urinary organs. Tengion will also receive an exclusive worldwide license or option to develop the technology that results from the research. Contact Bert Woodard (336.978.0021).
RTP – The N.C. Biotechnology Center (www.ncbiotech.org) has launched a program to match Biotechnology Center loans of up to $250,000 with angel network or venture capital investments to help bootstrap biotechnology companies in the state. The Strategic Growth Award loan program offers a new option to start-up companies between early-stage seed funding and later investment from venture capitalists, business partners and shareholders. Contact Barry Teater (919.549.8814).
Durham – Delta Air Lines (www.delta.com) will start a new daily nonstop flight from Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU) to Los Angeles International Airport on June 8. The flight will be RDU's first daily nonstop to the West Coast since August 2001. The flight will depart RDU at 6:55 p.m. Sunday through Friday and arrive back in the Triangle at 6 a.m. the following day. Contact Jill Denning (919.840.7707).
Charlotte – Bison Capital Asset Management (www.bisoncapital.com), a $300 million private equity firm based in California, plans to open a Charlotte office to expand its reach into the Southeast. Louis Bissette, an Asheville native and a UNC-Chapel Hill alumnus, will run the Charlotte office. He joined Bison Capital earlier this year after 12 years with Brentwood Capital, another private-equity firm based in California. Contact Louis Bissette (704.333.4899).
RTP – August C. Stiefel Research Institute (www.stiefel.com), a wholly owned subsidiary of global pharmaceutical leader Stiefel Laboratories Inc., will relocate its research and development headquarters to the former Eli Lilly building in RTP. The move will create 200 jobs and more than $50 million in investment in RTP over the next five years. Contact Jill Lucas (919.733.5612).
Durham – Duke University (www.duke.edu) has entered into a five-year collaboration with California-based Affymetrix Inc. (www.affymetrix.com) to analyze genomic information for thousands of patients. Under terms of the agreement, Duke researchers will use Affymetrix GeneChip(R) microarray technology to develop new applications for translational research projects. The initial projects will focus on cancer and cardiovascular disease. Contact Christopher DiFrancesco (919.684.4148).
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On The Up
Emu Software
Cary, NC
As the world forges ahead through a boom-time of Information Technology and Web expansion, the Internet server market has grown into a $50 billion enterprise. Currently, Linux server leads as the fastest-growing platform of the server market, growing at 35% year-over-year.
Cary-based Emu Software, Inc. (www.emusoftware.com) recognized this growing trend away from Microsoft or UNIX platforms and toward Linux server networks. Emu Software founded its business in 2003 with the intent of making Linux easier to manage and more cost-effective for its administrators.
Three years later, Emu Software’s product NetDirector is making headway as a management system that will finally give network administrators a simple way to make changes across multiple Linux servers.
In addition, NetDirector provides IT management with the capabilities it needs to comply with increasingly stringent Federal regulationsand all while saving companies money.
Most importantly, NetDirector’s user-friendly interface and change rollback feature (which ensures that configuration errors can be “undone”) reduce the amount of administrator time required to perform routine tasks by as much as 90%. These features also reduce the Linux skill level required of administrators to manage Linux servers. Overall, Emu Software estimates that NetDirector will reduce customers’ training costs by 50%.
In addition to reduced training costs, NetDirector addresses staffing costs and costs associated with server downtime. The IDC estimates that these expenses alone account for 90% of the five-year total cost of server ownership. At the August 2005 LinuxWorld Conference and Expo in San Francisco, Forrester Research said Emu Software’s NetDirector was one of the year’s best systems management, infrastructure and packaging innovations.
Within the IT world, Emu Software has built a seasoned leadership team that pools its experienced executives from companies such as Nortel Networks, MCI, Bloomberg Communications and Win4Lin.
As the leader of any startup company will tell you, recruiting talented executives is a key to success, said Emu CEO Jim McHugh. “Emu Software is proud of the accomplishments it has scored on this front over the past 90 days. We now have the experienced top executives needed to establish Emu Software as a true innovator in the rapidly-growing Linux management space.”
With IBM, Red Hat and Levanta as its strategic partner companies, Emu Software anticipates a future of improved quality and simplicity among Linux servers worldwide. Contact Jim McHugh (877.848.6100).
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In the Pipeline
RTP – AlphaVax (www.alphavax.com) has enhanced its existing license agreement with global vaccine company Wyeth (www.wyeth.com). The original agreement, signed in 1998, provided Wyeth with access to certain core alphavirus vector technologies controlled by AlphaVax to develop vaccines for selected infectious diseases. The new license, which provides Wyeth with exclusive access to all relevant AlphaVax technologies, also includes an undisclosed equity investment in AlphaVax by Wyeth. Contact Bolyn Hubby (919.595.0341).
Durham – Tranzyme Pharma (www.tranzyme.com), which is developing mechanism-based therapeutics for the treatment of gastrointestinal (GI) and metabolic disorders, has received FDA clearance for an IND application for TZP-101. Tranzyme is developing TZP-101 as a mechanism-based therapy for post-operative ileus and other GI motility disorders. The company is initiating a Phase I clinical trial of TZP-101 in the first quarter of 2006. Contact Sally Puckett (919.313.4760).
RTP – Oriel Therapeutics (www.orieltherapeutics.com) has been granted an extension of its novel powder fluidization technology U.S. Patent for dry powder dose filling systems and methods. The patent covers vibratory fluidization of powders for high precision metering of poorly flowing powders into pre-measured doses such as required by inhaler products. Contact Paul J. Atkins (919.313.1294).
Durham – Inspire Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (www.inspirepharm.com) has been granted orphan drug designation for denufosol tetrasodium, used in the treatment of cystic fibrosis, by the European Medicines Agency (EMEA). In March 2001, the FDA granted orphan drug status for denufosol for the treatment of CF in the United States. Contact Jenny Kobin (919.941.9777 x 219).
Durham – Adherex Technologies (www.adherex.com), a biopharmaceutical company with a portfolio of oncology products under development, has launched the first of three Phase I trials for its proposed cancer drug eniluracil. In-licensed from GlaxoSmithKline in July 2005, Eniluracil is being developed to improve the therapeutic vale and effectiveness of 5-FU, one of the world’s most commonly used chemotherapies. Contact Melissa Matson (919.484.8484).
RTP – The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (www.cednc.org) has chosen six North Carolina-based companies to present at Venture 2006, scheduled for May 2-3, 2006, in Pinehurst, NC. The companies selected to date include RTP-based Advanced Liquid Logic, Morrisville-based Bright View Technologies, Durham-based Broadwick Corporation, Cary-based Emu Software, RTP-based Ercole Biotech and Raleigh-based Visitar. Contact Zack Mansfield (919.549.7500).
Mark Your Calendar!
CED’s Venture 2006
May 2-3, 2006
Pinehurst Resort
Pinehurst, NC
Biotech 2006
May 22-23, 2006
Benton Convention Center
Winston-Salem, NC
For more information, visit the CED Web site (www.cednc.org) or call 919-549-7500.
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