TechFifty 2008 list

From http://www.tech50.org/2008/companies.html

Advanced Liquid Logic, RTP, NC - www.liquid-logic.com
Advanced Liquid Logic's "Digital Microfluidics" is a revolutionary approach to liquid handling. There are no pipes, pumps or valves. Instead, discrete droplets are manipulated electrically – using electrodes to independently control each droplet. Digital microfluidics enables extremely flexible Lab-on-a-Chip devices that can be configured in software to execute virtually any assay protocol. Founded in 2004, the company has over 80 issue and filed patents.

Altea Therapeutics, Atlanta, GA - www.alteatherapeutics.com
Altea Therapeutics is developing and commerciualizing pharmaceutical products based on a new class of transdermal (through the skin) patches that deliver therapeutic levels of water-soluable small drugs, proteins and carbohydrates in a painless, easy to use manner. The company's insulin transdermal patch provides an alternative to repeat insulin injections, tapping into a growing $7 billon global market. The company has raised $47 million in venture backing.

Argos Therapeutics, Durham, NC - www.argostherapeutics.com
Argos Therapeutics is developing a therapy that holds promise for enlisting the immune system in the fight against cancer, HIV and infectious disease. The company's dendritic cell therapies can kick start the immune system, targeting it to specific tumors or infections. It expects to mount three major clinical trials by the end of 2007. Argos has raised more than $92 million in venture funding, most recently a $35.2 million C round in April.

Aplicor, Boca Raton, FL - www.aplicor.com
Founded in 2000, Aplicor has won 18 awards for its hosted customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning software, making it the most awarded software as a service provider in the CRM industry. Its applicatons sell for $89 a user per month.The company is self-funded but may seek from $5 million to $10 million if finds a venture backer offering the right terms. Founder and CEO Chuck Shaeffer has 21 years experience in the CRM sector. Although the company has marquee U.S. clients such as Intel and the U.S. Department of Commerce, 70 percent of its customers are foreign.

Aurora Flight Services, Manassas, VA, - www.aurora.aero
Aurora Flight Sciences manufactures state-of-the-art unmanned aerial systems and components for the scientific research, defense and homeland security markets. Aurora's unmanned aircraft are distinguished by their daring designs and record-breaking performances. John Langford started Aurora Flight Sciences in 1989. Langford had recently managed the world record breaking Daedalus human powered aircraft project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Throughout the mid-1990s the pace of aircraft development at Aurora was rapid, and several landmark achievements, including a world altitude record set by the Perseus B, were accomplished. The new Aurora Flight Sciences of West Virginia facility enables Aurora to provide cost-effective, high-precision manufacturing services to large defense contractors. In addition to acquiring the manufacturing facility, Aurora developed strategic relationships with leading defense companies such as Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Raytheon and Sikorsky. Aurora has been a major supplier to the RQ-4 Global Hawk program since 1995, providing the primary composite flight structures for the high altitude long endurance UAS.

AxoGen, Gainesville, FL - www.axogeninc.com
AxoGen is commercializing technology that repairs peripheral nerves. Its Avance product is a human allograft nerve that supports axon regeneration along the repaired nerve. The company says its technologies may help people who lose strength, movement and muscle mass due to a traumatic injury to the arm, lose the ability to smile due to a facial injury, or lose sexual function due to prostrate surgery or suffer other injuries or surgical damage to peripheral nerves. AxoGen raised a $12.1 million C round at the end of 2007. The company expects to sell $30 million worth of Avance Nerve Grafts by 2010.

Biolex Therapeutics, Pittsboro, NC - www.biolex.com
Biolex Therapeutics focuses on producing hard to synthesize proteins via the aquatic plant Lemna (Duckweed). Its first products are monoclonal antibodies and it has trademarked the term "plantibody." Biolex withdrew it IPO registration in February this year. The company has raised about $100 million in venture funding. 

Calyptix, Charlotte, NC - www.calyptix.com
Calyptix manufactures AccessEnforcer, an all-in-one network security appliance that cuts costs, boosts productivity and protects networks for small and medium businesses such as financial, healthcare, accounting, and legal, manufacturing, nonprofit and other service organizations. All features are available through a single user interface for a single price without any integration, seat licenses or hidden charges. Calyptix Security's expertise is evidenced in several industry-wide vulnerability discoveries and in DyVax, the company's proprietary inspection engine, that dynamically filters email traffic, executable files and Microsoft Office files from true zero-day threats without reliance on signatures. Calyptix' flexible authorized partners program accelerates sales cycles and increases customer satisfaction while generating generous partner margins. CEO, Ben Yarbrough. The company is seeking $1 million to $2.5 million in funding.

Camero, Tyson's Corner, VA - www.camero-tech.com 
Camero 3D "Through–Wall Vision" products open doors for the military, law enforcement organizations, and search and rescue operations. The 5-year business plan delineates three initial markets for Xaver 800 products: the military, law enforcement organizations, and search and rescue operations. This Tyson's Corner-based firm was founded in 2003 has raised over $19 million to date.

Cernium Corp., Reston, VA - www.cernium.com
Analyst firm Frost & Sullivan named Cernium the 2008 North American Emerging Company of the Year for its efforts in developing and promoting real-time, content analytics-enabled products for video surveillance. Cernium's analytics engine, called the "P-Core," performs advanced event analysis with a fraction of the processing power required by comparable systems. It can process multiple, concurrent video streams in real time for any number of event types, providing greater ability to extract useful information from the video at less cost. The company has raised 17.5 million thus far.

Clearleap, Atlanta, GA - www.clearleap.com
Clearleap develops technologies it says will expand viewer options for "what's on TV," creating a new model that brings the breadth and diversity of internet video to the convenience and quality of TV. Clearleap was co-founded by Braxton Jarratt and John Vecchio, veterans of venture funded N2Broadband, a video pioneer acquired by Tandberg for $120 Million in 2005. "The system we're building takes video from different sources in different formats worldwide and processes the video and data so it can play on existing networks, whether broadcasters, IPTV or satellite," says Jarratt. The company raised $9 million in March.

Damballa, Atlanta, GA - www.damballa.com 
Damballa protects businesses from targeted attacks used for organized, online crime. Its global approach rapidly isolates the command-and-control needed to launch multi-network attacks. These signatureless solutions improve security both inside and outside the network perimeter, to stop threats other technologies miss and restore control to legitimate owners. Damballa helps stop the "bot armies" that spammers, identity thieves, and denial of service attackers use by hijacking PCs. The company raised $6 million in August last year and $2.5 million in 2006.

EnerTech Environmental, Atlanta, GA - www.enertech.com
EnerTech's patented technology, the SlurryCarb process, economically produces a renewable fuel from biosolids and other high-moisture wastes. EnerTech closed $160 million financing for its first commercial SlurryCarb facility in Rialto, California. It raised $42 million in a second round in January 2008. "We see the project under construction in California as a springboard for future projects," said David Nazarian of Nimes Capital, an investor. "What EnerTech has done will transform the biosolids market for many years to come. We see the opportunity not only in California, but elsewhere in the United States and the world."

ESP Systems, Charlotte, NC - www.espsystems.com
ESP Systems wants to help restaurants keep customers coming back. The number one reason they don't is customer service problems. ESP, which has raised five rounds of capital, most recently $2.5 million in December last year, makes a wireless communications technology that connects restaurant servers to their customers and the kitchen. Customers can let servers know when they need something. The tech may be relevant to several customer-centric, labor-intensive industries, including gaming, mass retail and healthcare, but the company's initial focus is on restaurants. It has received quite a bit of publicity from CNN, Business 2.0 magazine, Computerworld, and TV news operations. Devin Green, co-founder of the company tells TechJournal South he came up with the idea after one too many unpleasant dining experiences.

Fishbowl, Alexandria, VA - www.fishbowl.com
Founded in 2000, Fishbowl serves 700 restaurant chains in North America and Europe powering email marketing to over 28,000 locations. Fishbowl's broader marketing solutions provide restaurants with fully integrated mobile promotion, online ordering and online reservations. The company's repeat customers encourage its venture backers, who pumped $12 million into the firm in March.

FortiusOne, Washington, DC - www.fortiusone.com
Fortius One combines massive, complex data sets in visualizations that significantly enhance critical decision making. Fortius CEO and founder Sean Gorman says the basic idea behind the company is to be the next step toward where digital mapping technologies are going. "We want to create a network effect for these maps," he says. That means people in the field, such as emergency workers, can upload data about a current situation, a flooded area, for instance, and "mash it up with our data." The company raised a $5.4 million second round in 2007 with the stealthy, C.I.A. connected In-Q-Tel as one of its backers. "FortiusOne is leading the way to the next generation of web mapping, building on one of the hottest areas of the Web today," said Troy M. Pearsall, In-Q-Tel's Executive Vice President of Technology Transfer.

GridPoint, Washington, DC - www.gridpoint.com
GridPoint pioneered a smart grid platform that aligns the interests of electric utilities, consumers and the environment. During peak demand periods, the platform enables utilities to efficiently balance supply and demand by discharging stored power or reducing loads with minimal impact on customers (i.e., controlling temperature versus shutting down air conditioners). Utilities can also optimize existing baseload generation assets and relieve stress on transmission and distribution lines. GridPoint raised a total of $102 million in venture funding since its 2003 inception. It won numerous awards including, overall winner of the AlwaysOn GoingGreen 100 Top Private Companies 2007; the Red Herring 100 Global; and winner of the 2007 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for Green Excellence.

Harmony Information Systems, Reston, VA - www.harmonyis.com
Harmony Information Systems sells software to the health and human services sector. The company raised a $28 million second round in late 2007. The company offers on-demand and on-premise software applicatons to public and private health and human services organizations.

Highwinds, Winter Park, FL - www.highwinds.com
Highwinds, founded in 2002, started as a software company, selling to cable companies and ISPs. The company decided that it should build out a network infrastructure to get into the content delivery business itself. It began buying and building infrastructure, including multiple, redundant 10 Gbps links, 21 points of presence in the U.S. and Europe, and its own network services and engineering team. Building out the network also led to technology innovations in network management, distributed file system technology and advanced content routing methods, the company says. Most of the content the company delivers over its network never touches the Internet. The company raised a $55 million round in March.

Invision, Atlanta, GA- www.invisioninc.com
Invision's software-based solutions manage the sale of over $10 billion in annual television advertising inventory. Just as the airline reservations systems pricing algorithms are critical for airline profitability by maximizing revenue from available seat inventory, Invision helps its customers increase the revenue yield on available advertising inventory. Founded in 1993, the company develops licensed software to support ad processes for TV and radio stations. clients include BET, Bloomberg, Bravo, CNBC, E! Entertainment Television, Fox Sports Network, F/X, Galavision, G4/techTV, Gemstar/TV Guide, Hallmark, MGM, MSNBC, National Geographic Channel, PAX, Sony Pictures Television, Speed Channel, Telemundo, Telefutura, Tribune, Univision, and The Weather Channel. Invision raised a $30 million first round in March.

Jacket Micro Devices, Atlanta, GA - www.jacketmicro.com
Jacket Micro Devices is an Atlanta-based supplier of integrated RF modules for wireless products. The company was founded in 2002 by researchers from Georgia Tech who developed a groundbreaking new method to package RF components. Unlike modules made with ceramic and other technologies, JMD's products can be rapidly customized and have higher levels of integration, resulting in fewer external components and faster time to market. Key market drivers for JMD's products include the growth in complexity of wireless technology driven by new standards, such as 802.11n and 802.16e, that require multiple transmit and receive paths and thus complex front ends. The market for wireless interfaces that use the 802.11n standard will exceed 200 million units a year by 2009.

Jobfox, Mclean, VA - www.jobfox.com
JobFox matches job seekers and employers in much the same way some dating sites match people and brings headhunter techniques to job seekers, helping them showcase their unique skills and experiences. Its matching technology focuses on 10 dimensions of a good job fit. The company allows job seekers to create their own free personally branded career space and notifies them via mobile phone, IM text messages, or otherwise when a potential employer looks at their resume. Users can upload work samples. The company raised a $20 million C round in January, and a $10 million B round in May 2006.

Kajeet, Bethesda, MD - www.kajeet.com
Kajeet, a company formed when its three founder-fathers discussed how kids, cell phones, and parents could work best, found a solution that both their customers and investors like. The company has raised nearly $64 million in venture funding and $10 million in debt capital since 2003. The company launched its pay-as-you-go for kids with parental controls in 2007. It lets tweens, teens and parents configure their phones to fit their needs. The company has raised nearly $64 million venture backing and $10 million in debt capital since 2003.

Koolspan, Bethesda, MD - www.koolspan.com
KoolSpan's TrustChip crypto engine is a self-contained authentication, encryption and key management platform. Proceeds of the financing will be used to fulfill global demand for TrustChip-based solutions including TrustChip Voice, which creates instant AES-encrypted links among off-the-shelf mobile phones. "The KoolSpan TrustChip platform is designed for the rapidly growing mobile-to-mobile and machine-to-machine markets," says KoolSpan CEO Tony Fascenda. Koolspan raised a $7.1 million round in April.

Lab Escape, Asheville, NC - www.labescape.com
Founded in 2003, Lab Escape sells its heat maps software to a dozen Fortune 500 companies and about two dozen other clients. Heat maps color and size code complex data to make it easy to grasp and interpret. the company has had three times revenue growth each year for the last three, The 10-employee company has not raised outside money thus far, but is looking for $1 million to $3 million in backing. EO and founder, Trevor Lohrbeer is a serial entrepreneur.

Metastorm, Baltimore, MD - www.metastorm.com
Metastorm sells software for Enterprise Architecture, Business Process Analysis & Modeling and Business Process Management. As an integrated product portfolio, Metastorm Enterprise allows organizations to improve business results by unifying strategy, analysis and execution, the company says. Metastorm. The company has created good industry buzz and made a number of significant acquisitions. Founded in 1996, the company raised a $30 million C round in August 2007.

Metastatix, Tucker, GA - www.metastatix.com
Metastatix is developing compounds that block a receptor implicated in inflammation—now known to foster many serious diseases. But its treatments may also fight late stage cancer and its deadly metastasis and a form of HIV infection as well. Metastatix technology, licensed from Atlanta's Emory University, blocks the CXCR4 receptor, which plays a role in cancer, inflammation, and T-tropic HIV infections. Not only that, its treatments can be administered orally—a factor that makes a drug not only easier to take, but also easier to market. The company has raised $38.8 million.

Moli, West Palm Springs, FL - www.moli.com
Most of the social networking sites that made an initial impact on the Web world such as Facebook and My Space, aimed squarely at youth markets. Not so Moli. Moli is a social network with more than one difference from the others. Rather than pursue the youth market, Moli is designed to appeal to mature adults between 24 and 54. It restricts its membership to those 18 or older. It also focuses on small businesses of under 10 people. It has slightly more than 150,000 members as of March 2008. Moli, as part of Mainstream Holdings Inc., raised $29.6 million in funding in late January, primarily from founder Christos M. Cotsakos, former chair and CEO of E*Trade and former CEO and COO of AC Nielsen, who provided $20 million.

Myxer, Deerfield Beach, FL - www.myxer.com
The company's MyxerTones website offers tools for making and sharing mobile content. It says 2.5 million users download more than six million pieces of mobile content each month. The Myxer platform also offers partner API's for easy integration with existing content websites interested in expanding their reach to the mobile market. Myxer raised a $6.5 million round in September 2007.

NeoNova Networks, Morrisville, NC - www.neonova.net
NeoNova is the leading Internet service provider serving the U.S. rural telephone and cable service providers. NeoNova provides Internet services, data hosting, email, spam and virus filtering, web design and storage, customer care and billing services to over 60 independent communication service providers. There's plenty of room for growth in the rural broadband space. The PEW Internet survey showed that in 2007, only 31 percent of U.S. rural residences had broadband access. NeoNova's services help rural communications providers close that gap. California-based Azure Capital Partners and Bridgescale Partners bought the company from Digitel Inc. in March for an undisclosed sum.

Nexidia, Atlanta, GA - www.nexidia.com
Atlanta's Nexidia is a pioneer in phonetic-based audio search technology. Chosen as one of the 2007 top 10 innovative companies by the Technology Association of Georgia, the company increases search speed of audio files up to 500,000 times faster than real-time. Anna Convery, the company's senior VP of marketing and product management was named 2007 Women of the Year in Technology in the small/emerging business category. John Willcutts, president and CEO, has twice served as Entrepreneur in Residence for Benchmark Capital, and headed several other technology companies.

NextPoint Networks, Gaithersburg, MD - www.nextpointnetworks.com
NextPoint simplifies the deployment of fixed and mobile network connectivity, accelerates the delivery of new services to subscribers and offers high levels of security. Its customers include tier-one mobile operators located all over the globe. Formed by the merger if NexTone Communications Inc. and Reef Point Systems Inc., raised a $20 million venture round in December 2007. NexTone had previously raised $65 million. Reef Point had raised over $160 million. "NextPoint has incredible potential due to its unprecedented ability to support the IP network evolution and migration plans at both the access and peering points of both mobile and fixed-network providers," says Pascal Luck, a managing director with Core Capital Partners, an investor.

Pentaho, Orlando, FL - www.pentaho.com
Pentaho sells open source business intelligence software. "Pentaho has established itself as the leading commercial open source alternative to proprietary BI," said Peter Fenton, general partner, Benchmark Capital, an investor. Founded in 2004, Pentaho has more than three million lifetime downloads, with more than 20,000 registered community members. Pentaho's growing customer list includes Cox Communications, Delta Dental, Lifetime Networks, Monsanto Corporation, Savvion, Sun Microsystems, Terra Industries, U.S. Naval Air Command, and Wachovia. The company raised $25 million in venture capital, most recently, a $12 million C round in February.

Pique Therapeutics, Durham, NC, Miami FL - www.piquetherapeutics.com
Pique Therapeutics is developing vaccines that may halt aggressive cancers and in early clinical trials doubled the average survival time of patients with late-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) the number one U.S. cancer killer. If clinical trials verify Pique's techniques for bringing the immune system to bear down on tough cancers that previously kept it out with a biological firewall, it could transform treatment for previously frequently deadly forms of the disease. The company, founded in 2005, is looking for from $3 million to $5 million in a Series A round to do a larger, pivotal Phase II trial.

Prenova, Marietta, GA - www.prenova.com
Prenova's software suite helps customers in retail, telecommunications, restaurant, commercial and manufacturing business sectors drive down and manage total energy costs. The company's full suite of energy solutions consistently deliver a conservative 10 percent to 15 percent overall reduction in a customer's total cost of energy, it says. The company focuses on its clients assets, whether they're large scale refrigerators in grocery stores or the stoves in a restaurant, heating and ventilation systems and so forth to make sure they run optimally. renova manages billions of dollars in annual energy expenditures across hundreds of thousands of customer locations nationwide. 
Prenova clients include Crate & Barrel, Dollar Tree, Dunham's Sports, Eddie Bauer, Famous Footwear, Food Concepts, Home Depot, Kroger, and many others. The company raised an $11 million round in 2006 and a $3 million round in 2007.

Playmotion, Atlanta, GA - www.playmotion.com
Founded in 2002 by Greg Roberts, CTO, and Matt Flagg, and funded by friends, family and organic growth, PlayMotion evolved from a desire to create technology that enables people to interact with computers in fluid, natural ways. The company's motion-based interface applications not only allow gamers to enjoy a full body experience, they're finding uses in museums, healthcare, zoos, and aquariums. PlayMotion had an 86 percent growth rate in 2007 and is looking at 300 percent this year. One upcoming technology the company follows closely are new lines of cell phones with "built-in projectors," says CEO Scott Burkett. "Eventually, PlayMotion will be wherever you want it to be," he adds. "You'll just set your phone down and play."

Regado Biosciences, Durham, NC - www.regadobiosciences.com
Regado Biosciences is developing antidote controlled antithrombotics that prevent blood clotting. Antithrombotics, often used to treat cardio-vascular diseases such as stroke, can be difficult to administer, since too much can result in unwanted bleeding. The Regado technology addresses the need for greater control. Unlike existing agents, results suggest its REG1 is easily dosed, has rapid onset, and importantly offers predictable, reversibility through its targeted aptamer-based antidote. The company raised a $23 million C round in March.

Revolution Money, Tampa, FL - www.revolutionmoney.com
Former AOL Chairman Steve Case and half a dozen other well-known media and financial business executives formed Revolution Money, an Internet-based credit card company in 2007 that landed a $50 million B round in September 2007. Ted Leonsis chair the company. Its new payment network – Revolution Money – was created to deliver significant value to both consumers and merchants through two products, RevolutionCard and RevolutionMoneyExchange. The RevolutionCard eliminates costly interchange fees for merchants while simultaneously providing consumers with enhanced PIN-based security, identity protection, and periodic merchant discounts and incentives. MoneyExchange offers an easy and secure way to send and receive money online between accountholders for free.

6th Sense Analytics, Morrisville, NC - www.6sa.com
6th Sense Analytics, based in Morrisville, NC, helps companies automatically track software development projects, automating what in the past has been a cumbersome manual process. According to a recent Duke University/Booz Allen Hamilton study, managerial control is one of the key challenges for organizations sending software development and other high-end processes offshore. Founded in 2004, the company raised $5 million in January 2007. Greg Burnell is CEO.

SilkRoad Technology, Winston-Salem, NC - www.silkroad.com
SilkRoad technology sells software that helps companies manage their talent from the recruiting stage through on boarding, training, evaluations, and post-employment. "Companies are very interested in becoming preferred employers," says Andrew "Flip" Filipowski, CEO and executive chair of SilkRoad technology.

Sleep Solutions, Passadena, Maryland - www.sleepsolutions.com
Sleep Solutions is developing technology for diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). With only 15-20 percent of the estimated 40 million OSA patients in the US identified or diagnosed, the OSA diagnostic testing market is projected to exceed $3 billion in 2008 and is expected to grow 20 percent to 30 percent annually for the next five years. Sleep Solutions has raised a total of $46.5 million, including a $20.5 million round in March.

SnagAJob, Richmond, VA - www.snagajob.com
Founded in 2000, SnagAJob is the nation's largest job site fro part-time and full-time hourly positions and has 8 million registered users. Shawn Boyer, an attorney, started the site after a friend asked him to go online and help look for an internship in 1999. Boyer discovered few sites geared toward internships or part-time and hourly jobs. So, after several month of research, he left the D.C. law firm where he worked as a transactional attorney to start the site. The company started in a 1,000-square-foot office space in a medical office park in Norge, VA, and now operates from a 35,000-square-foot complex overlooking a lake in Richmond. It raised a $5 million B round in February.

StrikeIron, Research Triangle Park, NC - www.strikeiron.com
StrikeIron's Web Services Marketplace provides a technology platform, micro-transaction management and a consistent interface across many XML-based Web services from multiple, diverse sources. This allows end-users and ISVs to customize and integrate external data sources and additional external functionality into enterprise, Web, and composite applications. The company which has raised over $10 million in funding is based in Research Triangle Park, NC.

Suniva, Atlanta, GA - www.suniva.com
Suniva is developing high efficiency silicon photovoltaic solar cells based on Georgia Tech innovations. Founded in 2006 by Ajeet Rohatgi, director of the Georgia Tech University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaics, the company's technology makes more efficient silicon solar cells at low cost. Rohatgi is a recognized world-leader in photovoltaics. Suniva has raised $55.5 million in venture backing, including a $50 million second round early in 2008. The company says it expects to make $100 million in revenue by 2009.

TimeDomain, Huntsville, Alabama - www.timedomain.com
Time Domain's Ultra Wide Band PulsOn products are similar to global positioning systems (GPS), but have much higher accuracy and can track high value assets to within a few feet or even inches. UWB offers a number of advantages over competing technologies. UWB is a radio technology. It can be used at very low energy levels for short-range high-bandwidth communications by using a larger portion of the radio spectrum. Will Webb, Time Domain CEO, tells TechJournal South that the company has found a sweet spot in radio frequency identification marketing. "RFID is itself a very established growth market," he says. "Real time location is the fastest growing application in the sector. And UWB is the most sought after technology in that business." The company clocked in a $25 million round in September 2007.

Verical Inc., Alexandria, VA - www.verical.com
Verical makes supply chain security software. It has raised a $3.2 million Series A round led by Valhalla Partners. The Virginia CIT GAP Funds invested $100,000 in the company. Verical certifies the origin of new and unused items in the possession of first owners who want to sell them through a software process the company created. The filtering process creates a pool of surplus goods free from counterfeit, refurbished or stolen items. It also uses a rating system to categorize the extent to which assurance has been established.

VisualCV, Reston, VA - www.visualcv.com
VisualCV is a job site that lets users add photos, a portfolio of work samples, create multiple versions for different audiences, add charts and graphs, showcase previous employers, with "guaranteed privacy" and the ability to share results with employers, colleagues, customers, partners, and friends. The site is a place where job-seekers and recruiters can come in and do everything in one place. Job seekers can tailor a CV toward their audience. Tehy control who has access and track who actually comes in to take a look." The company raised $5 million in February.

ViTrue, Atlanta, GA - www.vitrue.com
ViTrue is the world's first user-created advertising platform. It allows companies to put consumer enthusiasm to work. Corporate customers upload videos promoting company products. Based in Atlanta, the company was selected for the Business 2.0 Next Net 25. It estimates that user created video will be an $850 million market by 2010. The company, founded in 2006, has raised $15.5 million in venture backing. CEO is Reggis Bradford, formerly president and a board member with Tandberg Television.

Yap, Charlotte, NC - www.yapme.com
Charlotte-based Yap lets users talk their text messages into a mobile phone instead of typing, which is far safer while driving. Formed by the same folks that worked on everything from Hondas to iPods, Yap created a patent pending freeform speech recognition platform that instantly converts anything you say into text. Beyond messaging, users can also use their voices to search Google or have their voicemails instantly converted into text (other services use human beings to do so). The company is currently seeking $5 to $10 million for expansion.

Ziptronix, Research Triangle Park, NC - www.ziptronix.com
Ziptronix makes an innovative wafer and die bonding technology that lowers manufacturing and packaging costs and increases yields in high-speed logic and MEMs manufacturing. Its technology, which lets chips bond powerfully at the molecular level via silicon oxide, gets around a variety of limitations that stymied previous attempts to create 3D circuits. A Ziptronix executive told TechJournal South that chip manufacturing has reached a point similar to high density building in cities: "There's no where to go but up," he said. The company holds 17 patents and has filed for others. The technology originated at Duke. The company raised more than $38 million in venture capital.

--
Howie Rhee, MBA
Managing Director
Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Fuqua School of Business, Duke University
Room E167J
919-923-7113 mobile
hwr2@duke.edu
www.fuqua.duke.edu/centers/cei

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