Recently Announced North Carolina Tech Deals

North Carolina is a very busy place for technology business investments. Take a look at the most recent deals reported in the the state's November venture investment report.

Morrisville, NC – 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.

Raleigh, NC – 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.

RTP, NC – 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.

Durham, NC – 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.

Cary, NC – 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.

Source: NC Council for Entrepreneurial Development.