Hatteras Ventures, a $350 million venture capital firm in Durham, says it will invest up to $10 million in startups linked to UNC-Chapel Hill. As part of the agreement, Hatteras will manage UNC’s Carolina Research Ventures investment fund.
The Carolina fund launched in January 2015 with a commitment of $5 million.
The deal is the third announced just this week designed to boost spin-outs of startups utilizing research and technology developed at Triangle universities.
Earlier in the week, UNC-CH, Duke, N.C. State and N.C. Central disclosed plans to partner on angel funding investments.
And NCSU unveiled a new $1 million startup fund as well as an accelerator program.
The Hatteras-Carolina partnership calls for direct management of the Carolina Ventures fund by Mike Dial, a principal at Hatteras. He will have support as well from Christy Shaffer and Clay Thorp, both well-known investment and private sector veterans at Hatteras. The three also will serve on the Carolina Ventures investment committee.
“After a thorough selection process involving many applicants, the Carolina Research Ventures board is very pleased to announce the selection of Hatteras Venture Partners as our partner for managing investments from the CRV,” said Sallie Shuping-Russell, chair of CRV. “Hatteras has a long-standing and successful track record investing in early stage companies such as G1 Therapeutics, GeneCentric Diagnostics, Spyryx, and Viamet that are based upon outstanding science coming from the University.”
Hatteras is committed to investments in what are called “companies and projects derived from resources” at UNC.
The deals also will be “separate” from other Hatteras investments, and there will be “co-investors” from other firms, Carolina research Ventures and Hatteras said.
Who is Michael Dial?
From Hatteras Ventures:
Michael Dial, PhD, Principal
Prior to joining Hatteras, Mike was a Vice President in Silicon Valley Bank’s Corporate Finance Group where he focused on emerging life science companies and venture capital funds. Prior to SVB, he held research scientist positions in the Department of Biochemistry at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Laboratory of Structural Biology at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and the UNC-Duke Michael Hooker Proteomics Center. He has performed research in the fields of cell cycle regulation, proteomics, and cancer therapy. Mike has published seven peer reviewed scientific articles and has presented at numerous international scientific conferences.
Mike serves on the board of Curoverse and is a board observer at Viamet Pharmaceuticals, Clinverse, and G1 Therapeutics. He holds a doctorate in biochemistry and biophysics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Community and Board Engagements
Mike has served on various committees and panels for the North Carolina Biotech Center, Council for Entrepreneurial Development, SE BIO, PTP NEXT and Durham’s Partnership for Children.
