Unique, Limited-Access Capital Highway to Streamline Deal Making
GREENSBORO, N.C., Aug. 6, 2009 — A $50,000 grant from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center paved the way for a newly opened, Web-based virtual highway designed to streamline information sharing and investment in start-up technology companies statewide.
The North Carolina Capital Highway is a unique, Web-based, limited-access thoroughfare enabling key players involved in angel and venture funding to transport and trade information that can help them turn the state's developers of new technologies into investor-ready entrepreneurs.
Timothy Janke, J.D., state program director of private equity initiatives for the Small Business & Technology Development Center (SBTDC) in Greensboro, launched the project this week, after more than a year of planning and development since the Biotechnology Center award.
Joining the Biotechnology Center and SBTDC in establishing the Capital Highway site and a related Human Capital Database are a Research Triangle Park software firm, InfoStrength, and the Inception Micro Angel Fund, also known as the statewide IMAF Family of Funds. IMAF is a group of member-managed, seed-stage, angel capital funds targeting six geographic regions of North Carolina.
Janke said access to the free Capital Highway Web site is available by invitation only. At its opening, about 100 users are testing the database, he said, though more are expected to join during the next few months.
"This is for high-potential angel-grade firms primarily in the fields of bioscience, medical devices and information technology," said Janke. "It can help syndicate deals that provide critical funding to worthy young companies throughout North Carolina."
Participants agree to share information in the searchable database, he said, and agree to be contacted to share ideas and make deals.
"To our knowledge there's nothing in the world like the North Carolina Capital Highway," said Janke. "We were already getting inquiries from other agencies around the country and we hadn't even launched yet."
John Richert, vice president of the Biotechnology Center's Business and Technology Development Program, said the North Carolina Capital Highway and the Human Capital Database provide a valuable new resource to North Carolina entrepreneurs and their financial backers.
"Three things are critical in this environment," said Richert. "They're human talent, money and information."
"By human talent, in this context I mean management expertise. Money is a continuum of grants, loans, angel and venture funds and individual investors, all the way through a public offering or a sale of a company. And information, in this case, includes education about available people, access to money and other necessities. This new Web site brings all those facets together."
Entrepreneurs and investors interested in learning more about becoming involved in the North Carolina Capital Highway can check the Web site at www.nccapitalhighway.com or contact Janke at (336) 403-1088 or by e-mail.
The Biotechnology Center is a private, non-profit corporation supported by the N.C. General Assembly. Its mission is to provide long-term economic and societal benefits to North Carolina by supporting biotechnology research, business, education and strategic policy statewide.
Contact: Chris Brodie, director of communications and media relations, North Carolina Biotechnology Center at 919-541-9366.
