Venture capital funding for Triangle startups hit a 15-year low in 2012, although the numbers increased in the second half of the year.
According to a report from accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, Triangle companies raised $11.8 million in the first quarter of 2012 compared to $53.6 million in the fourth quarter.
Read David Ranii's story here.
A Triangle drug research company today announced $4.85 million in private financing, bringing the total amount it has raised to nearly $60 million.
Cary-based CeNeRx BioPharma plans to use the money to complete Phase II trials of TriRima, a drug under development for treatment-resistant depression, one of the most devastating forms of the mood disorder.
The company is enrolling 360 patients to test the drug and expects to complete the study by the middle of next year.
There are limited medications available for treatment-resistant depression, typically anti-psychotics with significant side effects and without long-lasting benefits.
TriRima is designed as a single medication to replace the risky drug cocktails used for treatment-resistant depression.
CeNeRx, formed in 2005, has a dozen employees. The company's goal is to advance TriRima to Phase III clinical trials, as required for approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Investors for the latest financing round were Perseus Soros Biopharmaceutical Fund, L. Capital Partners, Pappas Ventures and Omega Funds.
Valencell, a Raleigh company that makes earbud sensors that allow a person to monitor their health while listening to music, said today that it has raised $5.5 million in venture capital funding.
The investment round was led by Best Buy Capital, the investment arm of retailer Best Buy, and also included TDF and True Ventures.
Valencell said it will use the money to expand its team, increase licensing agreements and expand the capabilities of its products.
The company currently has six employees.
When integrated into a headset, Valencell's Healthset platform enables earbuds to track a person's heart rate, number of calories burned, distance traveled and other measurements.
The data can then be streamed to smart phones or other devices.
Valencell earlier raised $1 million venture funding.
Windsor Circle, a fledgling Durham company that raised $350,000 in seed funding earlier this month, today announced the release of its first product for online retailers.
The six-month-old company has launched what it is calling the "Early Access" version of its eCommerce Intelligence Software, which is designed to help online retailers boost revenue from email marketing campaigns.
Unlike a beta version that may not be fully functional, Windsor's "Early Access" version is a finished product but availability is limited to ensure that the start-up can provide sufficient customer support, said Brad McGinity, vice president of sales and marketing. The company's plan is to limit access until Aug. 31.
Windsor Circle's eCommerce product enables online retailers to integrate customer purchase data with their e-mail marketing efforts, so that they can send out e-mails that match customers' interests. The eCommerce software also creates various customer segments, such as recent buyers, big spenders and wealthy customers.
The Durham technology company that helps smartphone providers build online "apps stores" has attracted another $10 million from another big-name investor.
Appia, which changed its name from PocketGear in February, received the latest money from Venrock, a veteran Silicon Valley firm established as the venture-capital arm of the Rockefeller family.
Last summer, Appia raised $15 million from the venture firm of Google CEO Eric Schmidt and a fund affiliated with Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry devices.
"We're seeing an acceleration in our business," said Appia founder and CEO Jud Bowman. "A CEO's job is to ensure a business has capital to go after the opportunities in front of it."
A Cary telecom company run by an endurance athlete has raised $22 million in financing from an investment group with strong Tar Heel ties.
The money marks the first time Bandwidth.com, founded in 1999 by CEO David Morken, has taken private funding.
It's also the first investment made by Carmichael Partners, a Charlotte firm founded last year by UNC Chapel Hill alumni Brian Bailey and Kevin Martin.
Bailey's background is in private equity. Martin is a lawyer and former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission. The two have been friends for more than 25 years, and were back-to-back student body presidents at UNC in the late 1980s.
"We're not focused exclusively on North Carolina companies, but it is great to help build a company in our home state," Bailey said.
Overture Networks said today it has completed its merger with Hatteras Networks, forming a privately-held telecommunications company with more than 100 employees to be based in Research Triangle Park.
The combined company, which will carry the Overture name, also reported to the Securities and Exchange Commission it has raised nearly $44 million in venture capital. That's on top of nearly $17.2 million Overture raised last year.
Overture told the SEC that both rounds of venture capital were raised in connection with a merger or acquisition, but the company noted in a written statement Monday that the latest financing round was not specifically related to the Overture-Hatteras merger.
That merger was announced March 1 and combined Overture, based in Morrisville, with Hatteras, based in RTP.
Overture plans to have about 200 employees, including 110 in the Triangle. Overture and Hatteras were both founded in 2000 and specialize in technology that lets telecommunications carriers send voice and data over the same networks.
Advanced Animal Diagnostics, a Durham company that develops technologies to diagnose diseases in farm animals, announced today that it has raised $11 million.
The financing was led by Durham-based Intersouth Partners and also included Novartis Venture Funds and private investors.
AAD is working on a product that will improve milk production and quality by controlling mastitis, an infection of the milk-producing gland.
While the Triangle is home to dozens of promising young companies backed by venture capitalists, only one made an exclusive list.
Appia, the Durham company that helps mobile-phone companies build online "apps stores" is the only local firm on the Wall Street Journal's 2011 list of the top 50 venture-funded companies.
The list, which is stocked mostly with California health and technology firms, puts Appia at No. 15.
The newspaper considered 5,743 venture-backed companies to find those with "the greatest promise to succeed."
A Triangle biopharmaceutical company said this morning it has netted $30 million in venture capital funds to continue developing treatments for glaucoma.
Aerie Pharmaceuticals, co-founded in 2005 by Duke University medical professor David Epstein, will use the money to advance its lead drug to the next level of patient testing.
Aerie, with 18 employees in Research Triangle Park and Bridgewater, N.J., is developing a series of treatments for glaucoma. Glaucoma is a degenerative vision disorder and the second-leading cause of blindness in the United States.
The company's lead product, AR-12286, succeeded last fall and in 2009 in phase 2 clinical trials, a patient test with more than 300 people. The drug's performance clears the way for Aerie to develop a phase 3 clinical trial with more than 1,000 patients.
