Venture Profile: Franklin Street/Fairview Capital Prefers IT, Life Science Investments

Editor’s note: Each business day, Local Tech Wire features a profile of a venture capital or investment firm operating in the I-85 corridor. LTW has now profiled more than 50 firms. Matthew Burns, Daniel Pearson and Worth Civils compiled the series. It was a case of money manager meets deal maker when well-heeled Franklin Street Partners of Chapel Hill teamed up with scrappy Fairview Capital of Raleigh six years ago to combine their investment funds.

The combination added private equity to the mix of investment services provided by Franklin Street and gave Fairview some deeper pockets to tap for deals.

With $70 million under management, the firm likes to provide early-stage financing for both information technology and life sciences companies.

It has had mixed success, cashing out of Osprey Systems at a high valuation and a portfolio that still includes promising firms like Cogent Neuroscience, Biolex and HAHT Commerce. Other investments, like those in NeoButler and Quisic, haven’t performed as well.

Franklin Street/Fairview also has been the breeding ground for a couple of other venture firms in the Triangle, obtaining the Small Business Investment Corporation license that spawned Oberlin Capital and serving as a key connection in the formation of The Halifax Group.

Here’s the skinny:

Featured Firm: Franklin Street/Fairview Capital

Mailing address: 1450 Raleigh Road, Suite 300, Chapel Hill, NC 27517

Phone number: (919) 489-2600

Web site: www.franklin-street.com

Management Team:

Stuart Frantz (President)
Daniel Duffy (Principal)

Focus of firm: Early-stage technology, both IT and life science.

Size of current fund: No fund

Money under management: $70 million

Companies funded over the last five years:

Biolex Inc.
Cogent Neuroscience
HAHT Commerce Inc.
Mirador Systems Inc.
NeoButler
Osprey Systems Inc.
ProMedex Inc.
Quisic
Raindrop Geomagic