Venture
Update Vol. VII, #9, November 2003
Done Deals
Morrisville - LVL7 Systems (www.lvl7.com), a networking software company, has secured $15.8 million in an oversubscribed, second round of funding. Carlyle Venture Partners, the venture arm of The Carlyle Group, led LVL7's most recent funding. The financing round included previous investors Gabriel Ventures Partners, H.I.G. Ventures and Research Triangle Ventures. Company officials said they would use the funds to support the growth of LVL7's enterprise, access and metro merchant IP software business and to continue the development of software features to address new market opportunities. Since its September 2002 funding announcement, LVL7 has signed deals with several leading Ethernet silicon vendors. Contact Kishore Jotwani (919.865.2909).
Raleigh - BioMarck Pharmaceuticals (www.biomarck.com), a spinout from N.C. State University, has raised $2.43 million from 46 private angel investors. BioMarck is developing an experimental drug that promises to control the mucus buildup and inflammation that accompany respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic bronchitis and cystic fibrosis. Company officials said they plan to use the money to fund ongoing studies and the beginning of clinical trials. BioMarck's technology is based on the unique “Marcks” peptide. Discovery of this peptide represents a novel therapeutic approach to various pulmonary diseases, because it directly inhibits mucus secretion by blocking a key step in the biochemical secretory pathway. Contact Tom Roberg (919.872.5601).
RTP - Raindrop Geomagic (www.geomagic.com) has acquired Hungary-based Cadmus Consulting LLC, a company focused on new methods for computer-aided geometric design. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition of Cadmus extends Raindrop Geomagic's software reach beyond the replication of a physical product into the realm of surfaces commonly used in automotive body design and consumer products. Cadmus will now operate as Geomagic Hungary. Engineers in the new subsidiary will become part of Raindrop Geomagic's software development team and will provide technical support to European customers. Contact Bob Cramblitt (919.481.4599).
Durham - Constella Group, Inc. (www.constellagroup.com) has acquired Resource Solutions, Inc. (RSI), an RTP-based contract research organization. Financial details of the acquisition were not released. RSI provides clinical trial management, clinical trial monitoring and quality assurance services to pharmaceutical, medical device and biotechnology sponsors. Constella is combining RSI's resources and services with its former Biomedical Informatics business unit to create a new business, Constella Clinical Informatics. The combined entities will offer pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies expanded research and development services in the areas of clinical trials management, data management, statistics, medical writing and information technology. Contact Katherine Smart (919.313.7612).
Cary - SAS (www.sas.com) has acquired Massachusetts-based Marketmax, a provider of retail planning and merchandise intelligence software. Financial details of the acquisition were not released. The Marketmax transaction is the sixth acquisition by SAS since 2000. With this acquisition, SAS adds Marketmax's retail merchandise planning applications and its team of retail industry experts to SAS' retail business intelligence offerings and expertise. Marketmax's customers include The Home Depot, Lowe's and Marks & Spencer. SAS will establish a Marketmax division that will operate from the current Marketmax headquarters in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Contact Angela Lipscomb (919.677.8000).
On the Up
RedPelican, Inc.
Research Triangle Park, NC
A group of successful entrepreneurs are back at it once again. Executives from TogetherSoft (acquired by Borland in January 2003) co-founded RedPelican, Inc., in June 2003. The new company, which is developing software to help companies streamline their marketing activities, has already shown promise in its early stages of going to market.
RedPelican (www.redpelican.net) creates and delivers end-to-end software applications that empower marketing professionals to personally manage the full range of their E-Marketing initiatives without the involvement of information technology expertise. The 25-employee company's first product, InFlight, a Web-based platform, will be available for general sale in November 2003. RedPelican will primarily sell InFlight on an annual subscription basis, with special fees for specific services.
Beyond its RTP headquarters, RedPelican has already opened offices in California, New Jersey and Amsterdam. In addition, RedPelican was one of four promising area companies competitively selected to present at CED's Oct. 15 Technology Forum: “Meet the New Companies.”
RedPelican's CEO Don Fluken was the former COO of TogetherSoft. Other TogetherSoft executives joining Fluken on RedPelican's management team include Robert Wood, VP of finance; Richard Davison, VP of corporate development; Timothy Hess, VP of research and development; Randy Gray, VP of business development; and Sean Pan, VP of marketing.
The founding members invested their own capital to get RedPelican started, and the company is now seeking investors to help move the company forward. RedPelican does not have initial head-to-head competition, but Fluken said other challenges could arise as other customer relations management companies see RedPelican's impact and start offering similar products.
“We founded RedPelican with one thought in mind: to put complete control of marketing campaigns where it belongs, in the hands of the marketer,” Fluken said.
Contact Kathleen Bagley (919.833.9975).
New Developments
RTP - MCNC's Research & Development Institute (www.mcnc-rdi.org), in partnership with the Piedmont Triad Partnership (www.piedmonttriadnc.com), hosted the first in a series of MCNC statewide Industry Day events on Oct. 9 in Greensboro. MCNC is hosting events throughout the state to create partnerships with private industry, university researchers and government agencies. MCNC will present information about its technology research and expertise in microelectronics and biomedical devices, signal electronics, secure high-speed networks and networked information systems. Contact Scott Yates (919.248.1907).
Durham - Duke University Medical Center (www.mc.duke.edu) has received $3.4 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to establish one of nine nationwide Autoimmunity Centers of Excellence. Duke will use the funds to conduct basic and clinical research on autoimmune disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis. Contact Kendall Morgan (919.684.4966).
Chapel Hill - UNC-Chapel Hill's (www.unc.edu) Center for Thrombosis and Hemostasis has received a $75,000 grant from Bayer Biological Products. The money will be used to enhance a program supporting postdoctoral or graduate fellows pursuing careers in coagulation-disorder research. The grant is part of the Bayer Corp. Fellowship Fund, a three-year-old cooperative effort in treating blood-related diseases and disorders that involves Bayer Biological Products and the UNC center. Contact Tricia McKernan (919.316.6316).
Cary - Engineous Software, Inc. (www.engineous.com), a provider of integration, automation and design improvement software, has received two contracts from the federal government. The first award provides the Navy with a simulation environment for performing optimization of ship system characteristics, relative to complex Naval missions. In addition, the Department of the Air Force has selected Engineous for a Phase I SBIR award in which the company will provide technical research into integration strategies associated with design tools utilized for the evaluation of propulsion systems. Contact Marijo Mencini (919.677.6700 x277).
In the Pipeline
RTP - AlphaVax, Inc. (www.alphavax.com), has been awarded a five-year, $16.8 million contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The award supports the development of a vaccine for HIV using AlphaVax's proprietary vaccine technology under a special program to show promise beyond the early research phase. The program will provide funding for pre-clinical development, production of vaccine material for clinical trials and clinical studies. A few weeks earlier, AlphaVax received two other NIH grants worth a total of $16.6 million to develop vaccines against a pair of biological agents that could be used by terrorists. Contact Peter Young (919.595.0400).
RTP - Tranzyme Inc. (www.tranzyme.com) has received a $150,000 grant from the N.C. Biotech Center (www.ncbiotech.org) to continue research and commercialization efforts. Tranzyme received funds from the Biotech Center's Small Business Research Award Program to accelerate applications of the company's gene delivery technology, TranzVector, in gene silencing. Tranzyme also received two grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling approximately $300,000. The first grant is a Phase I Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the second grant is a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award from the National Institute on Aging. Contact Vipin K. Garg (919.597.6614).
Winston-Salem - Kucera Pharmaceutical Co. (www.kucerapharma.com) has received a grant from the N.C. Biotech Center (www.ncbiotech.org) to continue research and commercialization efforts. Kucera received the grant money through the Biotech Center's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Bridge Fund program to continue the company's studies of KPC-2, a novel compound for the treatment of HIV. The SBIR Bridge Fund Program provides financial assistance to NC-based biotech companies that have received SBIR Phase I funding. This funding helps companies to compete more successfully for SBIR Phase II funding. Contact Russ Read (336.723.7133).
RTP - Paradigm Genetics, Inc. (www.paradigmgenetics.com), has signed a deal with California-based Affymetrix to provide microarray processing services using Affymetrix technology. The companies also signed an agreement providing Paradigm the right to use Affymetrix technologies for the local company's internal research programs. Contact Melissa Matson (919.425.3725).
RTP - Nuada Pharmaceuticals (www.nuadapharma.com) and Hoffmann-la Roche Inc. have successfully completed their first drug discovery collaboration. The collaboration was designed for Nuada (formerly called ChemCodes) to demonstrate its proprietary platform and medicinal chemistry capabilities with Roche in discovering new chemistries and synthetic routes for highly sought after compounds required in lead generation. The two firms plan to conduct a second collaboration and are currently in the process of determining therapeutic area, research plans and business arrangements. Contact Bruce Scott (919.806.3553 x105).
Chapel Hill - POZEN Inc. (www.pozen.com) announced that its New Drug Application (NDA) for MT 100 for acute migraine treatment has been accepted for filing by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). MT 100 is being developed as an oral first-line therapy for the treatment of migraine. POZEN submitted its NDA for MT 100 on July 31, 2003, seeking marketing approval in the United States. The FDA has agreed to review the NDA and to accept POZEN's filing of the results of a rat carcinogenicity study in early 2004. POZEN officials expect to receive initial FDA action in June 2004. Contact Lisa Barthelemy (919.913.1044).
Raleigh - Salix Pharmaceuticals (www.salix.com) has signed an agreement with Korea's Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corporation (CKD) to market Salix's drug product, COLAZAL®, for the treatment of mild to moderate ulcerative colitis, in the Republic of Korea. CKD markets products in the cardiovascular, anti-infective and gastrointestinal disease therapeutic areas. As part of the agreement, Salix also will have a first right of negotiation for all CKD gastrointestinal products available for commercialization in the U.S. Contact Michael Freeman (919.862.1000).
Mark Your Calendar!
SEBIO 2003 Conference
November 10 & 11, 2003
Pinehurst, NC
www.sebio.org
Capital Connection Luncheon
December 16, 2003
Radisson Governor's Inn
RTP, 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.
Lisa Rowe-Ralls, editor
P.O. Box 13353, RTP, NC 27709
Phone: 919-549-7500
FAX: 919-549-7405
email: news@cednc.org