Southeast Approaching $250M in Venture Deals for 2003

RALEIGH … The slow but steady pace of venture deals across the Southeast continued last week, with one more financing announced. Still, the region is off last year’s pace by more than 40 percent.

NuTech Solutions, a Charlotte software developer, obtained $2 million from existing angel investors for its third funding round last week. Meanwhile, Georgia and South Carolina once again posted no deals.

LocalTechWire also added eight deals to its weekly lists that had closed during the first quarter but only came to light through the statistics including in the MoneyTree Survey published by PricewaterhouseCoopers, the National Venture Capital Association and Venture Economics.

The largest of the deals was $2.5 million for CoreCard Software of Norcross, Ga. Georgia had four of the deals, North Carolina three … all less than $1 million … and South Carolina had one.

The Carolinas and Georgia now have posted to 37 deals for the year, totaling $243 million. That compares with more than $425 million in 56 deals at this point a year ago.

Here is LTW’s exclusive list, ranked according to the size of the deal, for the Carolinas and Georgia:

Company; Sector; Amount (Round)

Investors: Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, M/C Ventures, Quadrangle Group, Vaxa Corporate Partners and Wachovia Partners

2. TransTech Pharma, High Point, N.C.; Pharmaceutical; $24 million (2nd)

Investors: MacAndrews & Forbes (lead), Cephaton and Novo Nordisk A/S

3. Prenova, Marietta, Ga.; IT services; $15.5 million (3rd)

Investors Frontenac (lead) Austin Ventures and River Cities Capital Funds

4. Targacept, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Biotech; $14 million (2nd)

Investors: Nomura International Healthcare Private Equity Group (lead), Bison Capital, Cogene Biotech Ventures, JAFCO, Oxford Bioscience Partners and Rock Castle Ventures

5. STI Knowledge, Atlanta; Software; $14 million (1st)

Investors: Satish Sanan (individual lead) BV-Cornerstone Ventures and Mellon Ventures

6. TranS1, Wilmington, N.C.; Medical devices; $12 million (2nd)

Investors: Advanced Technology Ventures (lead), Cutlass Capital, Delphi Ventures and Sapient Capital

7. nuBridges, Atlanta; Software; $11 million (2nd)

Investors: hf Flagship Investments (lead), C&B Capital, GMT Capital, Noro-Moseley, Tycho and Marie Hawle Foundation and individuals

8. Arsenal Digital Solutions, Cary, N.C.; IT services; $10.5 million (4th)

Investors: Covestco, Southeast Interactive Technology Funds and Southern Cross Capital

9. Ephinay, Charlotte; Services; $10 million (1st)

Investors: Chrys Capital

10. StemCo Biomedical, Durham; Biotech; $9.8 million (2nd)

Investors: Aurora Funds (co-lead), Intersouth Partners (co-lead), BD Ventures, Tall Oaks Capital and Trelys Venture Partners

11. Venetica, Charlotte; Software; $7 million (1st)

Investors: Charles River Ventures and General Catalyst Partners

12. Brickstream, Atlanta; Software; $6.2 million (1st)

Investors: Columbia Capital and Mohr Davidow Ventures

13. Lancope, Alpharetta, Ga.; IT Services; $5 million (2nd)

Investors: HIG Ventures and GMG Capital Partners

13. Oculan, Raleigh; Networking; $5 million (4th)

Investors: Soros Equity Partners

15. MediaSpan Group, Durham; IT services/software; $4.5 million (1st)

Investors: Covesco-Seteura, Rustic Canyon Group and Southeast Interactive Technology Funds

16. Q1 Labs, Atlanta; Software; $3.3 million (1st)

Investors: Business Development Bank of Canada and New Brunswick Investment Management

17. Flexlight, Atlanta; Networking; $3 million (2nd)

Investors: Coral Ventures and Concord Ventures

17. Quellan, Atlanta; Hardware; $3 million (2nd)

Investors: Cordova Intellimedia Ventures, Greenspring Ventures, ITU Ventures, National Semiconductor, University Financing Foundation and Yamacraw Seed Capital Fund III

19. CoreCard Software, Norcross, Ga.; Software; $2.5 million (NA)

Investors: Intelligent Systems

20. Qcept Technologies, Atlanta; Hardware; $2.1 million (NA)

Investors: Pittco Capital Partners (lead), Atlanta Technology Ventures and Bergman & Associates

21. Relativity Technologies, Cary, N.C.; Software; $2 million (4th)

Investors: Noro-Moseley Partners and Wakefield Group

21. AvidXchange, Charlotte; Software; $2 million (2nd)

Investors: Charlotte Angel Partners, Piedmont Angel Network and and individuals

21. Auctionworks, Atlanta; Software; $2 million (2nd)

Investors: Undisclosed

21. NuTech Solutions, Charlotte; Software; $2 million (3rd)

Investors: Individuals

25. RSS Solutions, Greenville, N.C.; Software; $1.6 million (1st)

Investors: EdgeStone Capital Partners

26. LiveWire Logic, Morrisville, N.C.; Software; $1.5 million (3rd)

Investors: Gray Ventures and Research Triangle Ventures

26. Trinity Security, Charlotte; IT services; $1.5 million (1st)

Investors: Venture Capital Solutions

28. InsLogic Holding, Columbia, S.C.; IT services; $1.1 million (7th)

Investors: Warburg Pincus

29. AfterBOT, Norcross, Ga.; Software; $835,000 (2nd)

Investors: River Cities Capital Funds

30. iReadyWorld, Charlotte; IT services; $650,000 (4th)

Investors: Total Technology Ventures

31. SAK Logistics, Atlanta; Software; $500,000 (1st)

Investors: Individuals

32. Metabolon Pharmaceuticals, Research Triangle Park, N.C.; Biotech; $300,000 (Seed)

Investors: Aurora Funds

33. Noverant, Raleigh; Software; $266,000 (Seed)

Investors: Research Triangle Ventures and individuals

34. Coventor, Cary, N.C.; Hardware; $250,000 (NA)

Investors: Undisclosed

35. StrikeIron, Raleigh; Software; $150,000 (Seed)

Investors: Aurora Funds

36. RYLA Teleservices, Woodstock, Ga.; IT services; $100,000 (2nd)

Investors: Sustainable Jobs Fund

37. VT Silicon, Atlanta; Hardware; NA (Seed)

Investors: ITU Ventures