Venture
Update Vol III, #10, October, 1999
Durham—OpenSite Technologies (www.opensite.com), a developer of software for online Internet auctions, signed a letter of agreement to be acquired by InfoSpace.com, a publicly-held Internet infrastructure company. The agreement is worth $200 million. Contact: Kip Frey (919.544.1993).
Durham—Intertect Networks (www.intertect.com), a developer of a proprietary Internet search technology that provides customizable search services, closed on $750,000 in first round financing in September 1999 from TriState Investment Group III. Contact: Jud Bowman (919.806.8611).
Apex—InterAdNet (www.interadnet.com), a provider of Internet advertising, received $4 miilion in venture financing in September 1999. Investors included Big Flower Holdings. Contact: William Freeman (919.363.5315).
Research Triangle Park—Link Technology, Inc., a biotech-nology company that develops diagnostic assays and therapies for the diagnosis and treatment of septicemia, closed on $750,000 in Septemeber 1999. The financing included a $500,000 investment from Access Investment Partners. Contact: Don Wilson (919.406.1888).
Charlotte—Lending Tree (www.lendingtree.com), a developer of an online loan marketplace, closed on a $50 million third round financing in September 1999. The round was led by Capital Z Financial Services Fund II and included GE Capital, The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., Marsh & McLennan Capital and priceline.com. Contact: Doug Lebda (704.944.2110).
Cary—LIPSinc.(www.lipsinc.com), a developer of software for animating cartoon lips to synchronize with spoken words, closed on between $500,000 and $1 million in bridge round financing in September 1999. The financing came from the company's first round investors, including TriState Investment Group, who provided the company with $1.5 million in first round financing in 1998. Contact: Michael Helpingstine (919.468.7005).
Carrboro—WebslingerZ, Inc. (www.webslingerz.com), a provider of Web site devlopment services, along with the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, received a grant for $1.8 million from the U.S. Department of Education's "Learning Anytime Anywhere Partnerships" (LAAP). Under LAAP, colleges, universities, companies, and non-profit organizations join together to expand access to high-quality learning opportunities that students can access "anytime, anywhere" via the Internet. Contact: Jeffrey Hoffman (800.666.5773).
Durham—PlanetPortal.com (www.planetportal.com), a developer of a patent-pending Internet peripheral designed to drive consumers to specific Web sites, closed on $1 million in seed financing in September 1999. The funding came from T-Telematik Venture Holding, a division of German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom. Contact: Brent Kleinheksel (919.425.0140).
New Developments
Morrisville—SciQuest.comTM,
Inc., (www.sciquest.com),
a developer of an Internet site for scientific
equipment sales, formed filed a registration
statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission on September 20, 1999, for an initial
public offering of common stock. The company plans to
raise $90 million with the sale of an undetermined
number of shares. Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette
Securities Corporation, Deutsche Banc Alex Brown,
Hambrecht & Quist LLC, DLJdirect Inc. and
E*OFFERING Corp. are the managing underwriters of the
offering. Contact: James Scheuer (919.659.2100).
Research Triangle Park—Koz.com (www.koz.com), a developer of software for building Web communities, has formed a partnership with e-commerce application service provider Chicago's Orbit Commerce, Inc., and Vicinity Corporation, an e-retailing Internet marketing company. Under the partnership, the companies will work to combine online communities and e-commerce for small- and medium-sized businesses. Koz.com has also made a deal with Gray Communications Systems, Inc., an Atlanta-based broadcast company, in which Gray will deploy KOZ.com's Community Publishing System to its television stations and newspapers. Contact: Wendy Robinson (919.767.2131).
Durham—Inflow (www.inflow.com), a Denver-based provider of solutions for hosting, connecting and servicing electronic commerce applications, will open a center in the Research Triangle in the end of October 1999. Contact: Art Ziele (303.824.3000).
Durham—Novalon Pharmaceutical Corporation (www.novalon.com), a drug discovery company focused on drug discovery through genomic targets, has formed a drug discovery collaboration with GPC AG of Germany in which the two companies intend to develop a new class of broad-spectrum antibiotics. Under the deal, the two companies will share costs and revenue. Contact: Clay Thorp (919.474.8888).
Raleigh—Innovative Devices LLC, (www.innovativedevices.com), a biomedical engineering company that focuses on the design, development, and evaluation of Pulmonary Drug Delivery Systems, received three patents on its inhalation devices, which are designed to eliminate the difficulty asthma patients have with dosing and inhalation. Contact: Dr. Robert Casper (919.781.6315).
Research Triangle Park—Celotek Corporation (www.celotek.com), a developer of security systems for commercial high-speed Asynchonous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks, has signed an agreement with Racal Security and Payments, a provider of Wide Area Network data encryption. Under the agreement, Celotek will provide Racal with ATM crytographic units based on Celotek's CellCase technology. Contact: Ingrid Arkeilpane (407.896.3288).
Research Triangle Park—The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (www.cednc.org), in cooperation with Kenan-Flagler, has selected demo companies to present at Research Triangle InfoTech '99, the Southeast's premier Information Technology industry conference showcasing the best of North Carolina's $5.1 billion IT industry, on October 27, 1999. The companies are:
|
AlertMeWhen.com |
InterAdNet, Inc. |
For more information about and links to the IT '99 Demo Companies, go to http://www.cednc.org/infotech/99/.
On The
Up
BOPS®, INC.
BOPS®, Inc. (Billions of Operations Per Second,
Inc.) is a two and one-half year-old company that
develops and licenses leading-edge Digital Signal
Processor (DSP) core technology to high-volume
manufacturers of System-On-Chip (SOC) semiconductors
for consumer multi-media, networking and
communication products. BOPS forms alliances with
customers like Intel and Mitsubishi who use its DSP
technology in new electronic information and data
processing products such as digital cellular and TV
and console gaming.
BOPS' development unit is based in the Triangle, with headquarters in Silicon Valley. The co-founders are from IBM's MWAVE/MFAST DSP group, and the company's development team is made up of a combination of people seeking the Triangle's easy pace and doctoral students from the area's top-flight universities. "We need to be where the qualified people are," notes co-founder Steve Walsh, who's also the company's chairman. "There is a high concentration of talent in the Triangle - BOPS has filed for 26 patents." The 48-person company plans to grows its RTP site and open an additional development center in Austin, TX.
Incorporated in 1997, BOPS received $2 million from Umax Technologies. In 1999, the company raised $9.5 million. VantagePoint Venture Partners and Pequot Captial were lead investors with the Band of Angels Venture Fund participating as well. BOPS hopes to raise an additional $10-20 million in the third round of mezzanine investments slated for 2000.
Mark Bowles, co-founder and president, adds: "The outside investments will assist BOPS in achieving our goal of becoming the defacto standard DSP co-processor platform for MIPS, ARM and other CPUs in emerging high-performance and battery-powered applications."
For more information about BOPS, call 888.890.BOPS.
Research
Triangle InfoTech '99
October 27, 1999
8:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Friday Center, UNC-Chapel Hill
Venture Capital for Entrepreneurs: The Art of the
Deal
November 2, 1999
12:30-5:00 p.m.
North Carolina Biotechnology Center
Mergers
& Acquisitions 2000
January 11, 2000
12:00- 5:00 p.m.
Washington Duke Hotel, Durham
For more information about these events or to register, visit the CED Web site at www.cednc.org or call 919.549.7500.
CED is a private non-profit organization supported, in part, by corporate contributions, including funding from Atcom Business Telephone Systems, Carolina Power & Light And Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc.
Research Triangle Venture Update is published by
the Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), a
non-profit organization located in Research Triangle
Park, N.C.
Editor Carolyn Foy, CED
P.O. Box 13353
RTP, NC 27709
Phone: 919.549.7500
Fax: 919.549.7405
Email: mcfoy@cednc.org