GREENVILLE,Nine companies representing a mix of pharmaceutical, software, networking and hardware products, will make their case for investment at InnoVenture 2004 in Greenville.

The venture conference will take place May 20 in Greenville.

“We’re thrilled to showcase our emerging companies to the venture community and the state,” said Irv Welling, shareholder in Elliott Davis, LLC and chairman of the selection committee for InnoVenture 2004. “Each selected participant will further the growth of our knowledge-based economy.”

The nine firms are from Asheville, N.C., Charleston, Columbia, Greenville and Hilton Head Island. They are:

Argolyn Bioscience, Inc., Benefitfocus.com; Navigational Sciences, Inc.; BioWatch Medical and Electrum Corporation; Vigilix; World NarrowCasting; Revolution D and BUILDERadius.

“The objective for InnoVenture 2004 is to increase the awareness of venture capital firms as to what’s going on in South Carolina — the investment opportunities, potential investors and the networking opportunities with professional service providers, entrepreneurs and government officials,” Welling said. “We are confident that this outstanding group of advanced start-up organizations will showcase the emerging opportunities for VC firms and investors in our state.”

The presenting companies are:

  • Argolyn Bioscience, Inc., a privately held peptide drug development company with a growing portfolio of discovery of preclinical stage products.

  • Benefitfocus.com

    • , a provider of benefits management and enrollment software for use via the Internet and touch-screen kiosks

  • BioWatch Medical, a developer of personal health monitoring devices which enable continuous monitoring of a wearer’s vital signs without restricting normal daily activities.

  • BUILDERadius, which creates and installs software for municipal planning departments and construction contractors.

  • Electrum Corporation, a provider of web-enabled home-based network marketing companies with cost-efficient electronic payment acceptance and automation services.

  • Navigational Sciences, Inc., a technology and consulting company specializing in geographic information systems, satellite image processing consulting, and asset tracking solutions.

  • Revolution D, a developer of subscription-based brand management software and services, including flagship solution Agility XP tm Desktop Edition which enables organizations to transform traditional plain text emails into visually compelling interactive branded messages.

  • Vigilix LLC, which develops technologies that enable companies to successfully manage critical business resources and information.

  • World NarrowCasting,a marketing company offering a one-stop source for integrating point-of-sale and marketing solutions for any business that interfaces with consumers.

    • InnoVentureSC: www.innoventuresc/com