CHARLOTTE & RALEIGH, NC--Peak 10, a leading independent data center operator and managed services provider, has amended and expanded its credit facility to $60 million.

GLEN ALLEN, VA--First Reserve Corp., an energy-focused private equity firm, has made an equity investment of $300 million in Osage Bio Energy, to fund the construction of four ethanol and protein feed production facilities, primarily in the Southeast US.

TechJournal South introduces you to its 2008 Tech 50 list of innovative Southeastern technology and biotech companies. They are listed alphabetically. Today, the first 15.

ATLANTA—Complying with an increasing burden of compliance requirements and credentials from vendors, some organizations, particularly hospitals and their vendors, are turning to Atlanta-based Vendormate to automate the process.

WASHINGTON, DC—Idenity theft protection and detection company iSekurity has locked down an $11 million funding commitment from Equity 11, with additional funding staged against completion of corporate growth milestones.

BLACKSBURG, VA-Imagine Twilight Zone music: the universe as we currently know it is made up of three dimensions of space and one of time, but researchers in the Department of Physics and the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech are exploring the possibility of an extra dimension.

BLACKSBURG, VA—Intrexon Corp., a life sciences company focused on biotherapeutic control systems, has closed a Series C-2 financing led by New River Management V, an investment fund managed by Third Security.

WASHINGTON, DC—Medical devices such as drug-coated heart stents, equipment for diagnostic imaging, and others are entering the healthcare field at increasing rates, many supported by substantial venture capital backing. Yet, says Martyn Howgill, executive director of the DC-based Institute for Health Technology Studies, “There really isn’t a lot of data out there to demonstrate the benefits of drug eluding stents and other medical devices.”

VIENNA, VA—Parature, a company selling online customer support software, has raised $16 million in Series B funding led by Accel Partners, joined by previous investors, Sierra Ventures and Valhalla Partners, according to Private Equity Hub.

DURHAM, NC – Most published research about coronary stents does not reveal information about authors' financial relationships that might bias their interpretation of scientific data, according to researchers at Duke University Medical Center.

DURHAM, N.C. – Imagine being able to tone down appetite and promote weight loss, while improving the body's ability to handle blood sugar levels.

ATLANTA—Several years ago an automotive company came to then Georgia Tech professor Dr. Roy Marsten, a major-award-winning math whiz, with a problem: how could they optimize a product mix with up to millions of possible variations? He founded Emcien, a company graduating from the Atlanta Technology Development Center this month, to solve that problem.

SOPERTON, GA—Range Fuels Inc., the Colorado-based company building an ethanol production plant in Soperton, GA, has expanded its Series B round from $100 million to $166 million, according to Dow Jones’ VentureBeat reports, citing a regulatory filing. “Range Fuels is the company closest to commercializing cellulosic ethanol,” said Walther Lovato, Portfolio Manager, Passport Capital, which led the round.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK--Max Wallace, a Triangle serial entrepreneur known for his roles with Cogent Neurosciences, Trimeris, and Sphinx Pharmaceuticals, has accepted the CEO position with Accellerate Brain Cancer Cure, a DC-based non-profit founded by the late Dan Case and his brother Steve Case, former head of AOL.

CARY, NC—Marco Fregenal, recently president of Ultimus and a co-founder of HowStuffWorks.com, didn’t waste any time getting back into the software business after leaving Ultimus in March 2007. By May, Fregenal and his experienced tech startup team launched Carpio Solutions to sell SAP implementations, business intelligence software, and “dual-shoring” development services.

CHAPEL HILL – Researchers at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have discovered new targets for cancer treatment aimed at blocking a key step in tumor progression.

Annette Khaled, a University of Central Florida (UCF) assistant professor, is conducting research on the 'death protein' (BAX), which could help benefit the search for cures to both heart disease and cancer.

ORLANDO, FL—Social networking has gone to the dogs…and cats…and birds. Orlando-based Petentials is raising a $500,000 round to grow its social networking site aimed at all pets—via their owners. “It started as a pet-dating site,” says co-founder and Director Darren McDaniel.

ATLANTA—FTRANS Corp., a company that provides loans against accounts receivables to business to business sellers, has raised a $7.5 million round led by Greenhill SAVP. Existing investors Total Technology Ventures and New Atlantic Ventures (formerly Draper Atlantic) participated.

GAINESVILLE, FL — First came direct marketing, then focus groups. Now, advertisers, with the help of neuroscientists, are closing in on the holy grail: mind reading.

This is part three of an ongoing series on the history of Southeast venture funds by Rebecca Kauffman. Today, "Early 1990s marked by downturn."

NASHVILLE, TN—Six-year-old Emma says its 10,000 customers look to the company for easy-to-use stylish design options. “A focus on style is our main differentiator,” says co-founder Clint Smith.

KANSAS CITY, MO—A new study challenges the perception of American technology entrepreneurs as 20-something wunderkinds launching businesses from college dorm rooms.

ATLANTA—Scientists have developed a new, faster way to create human monoclonal antibodies against infectious disease by tapping the immune system at the peak of its powers.

SARASOTA, FL—Sunovia Energy Technologies Inc. (BB:SUNV) has raised a $12 million mezzanine financing from undisclosed investors.

This is part two of a continuing series on the history of venture funds in the Southeast by Rebecca Kauffman. At a recent venture conference, Mark Hessen, president of the National Venture Capital Association called the full article a "must read."

MYRTLE BEACH, SC—Savvy real estate investors need to know a host of variables about a property before they buy as do those who appraise or offer a property for sale. Site Tech Systems aggregates information from local, state, and federal sources to provide a one-stop real estate research database.

Mark Hessen, president of the National Venture Capital Association, called the following article a "Must-read" at a recent venture conference: One of the great ironies of the emerging company world is that venture capitalists themselves must raise money. The venture investor who just said no to your deal once sat across the table from another guy (a prospective limited partner), who said “no” to him. More than one fundraising CEO has smiled at that thought over the years.

RALEIGH, NC—An advance by North Carolina State University physicists improves understanding of how light interacts with matter, and could make possible the development of new integrated-circuit technologies that result in faster computers that use less energy.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC-- CivaTech Oncology, Inc., an early stage company developing a novel medical device for the treatment of prostate cancer, has raised $1 milion in a Series B private financing round.

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Oxford Finance Corporation, the principal lender, and Comerica Bank, have finalized a $15 million senior secured loan agreement with VisualSonics Inc., developer of high-resolution, ultrasound-based, in vivo micro-imaging systems designed specifically for non-invasive preclinical research.

NASHVILLE, TN--With an 89 percent initial success rate in arresting or eradicating some of the most aggressive cancers, a Nashville-based company's treatment is being offered to the public for the first time.

DURHAM, NC—Whether you are a Mac person or a PC person, even the briefest exposure to the Apple logo may make you behave more creatively, according to recent research from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and the University of Waterloo, Canada.

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL—DataCore Software Corporation, a vendor of hardware independent, storage virtualization software, has accepted a $30 million equity investment from Insight Venture Partners and Updata Partners.

ATHENS, GA--Sedentary people who regularly complain of fatigue can increase their energy levels by 20 percent and decrease their fatigue by 65 percent by engaging in regular, low intensity exercise, according to a new University of Georgia study.

BOCA RATON, FL—Chuck Schaeffer, CEO and founder of Aplicor, started the company in 2000 to sell customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning applications on a software as a service (SaaS) model. The company’s attention to an easy to use interface and advanced capabilities has proved fruitful. Aplicor is the most awarded hosted CRM software and ERP/financial accounting solution in the SaaS industry.

DURHAM, NC -- The hunter-versus-hunted phenomenon exemplified by a pack of lionesses chasing down a lonely gazelle has been recreated in a Petri dish with lowly bacteria.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC—Has your company won awards for its business? Has it been cited as a top player by trade or industry media? Have members of your management team won recognition? Has your product been cited as among the best at trade shows or industry organizations? If so, tell us about it for our Award-winning business issue in August.

WILMINGTON, NC—A startup on the North Carolina coast has made life a lot easier for store owners who want to keep an eye on the shop when they’re not there, home owner security, and pet lovers curious about what tabby is up to when people are not home. Rogo makes an inexpensive, simple to install security system that users can check from a cell phone or the Web.

DURHAM, NC—Aldagen, a biopharmaceutical company developing regenerative cell therapies for unmet medical needs, has raised $18.4 million from its existing investors, including Intersouth Partners, Tullis-Dickerson, Harbert Venture Partners and the Aurora Funds.

ATLANTA—Silverpop, which sells on-demand marketing technology, has closed a $15 million round of funding. The funds are earmarked for international expansion, R&D acceleration and to fund additional acquisitions to round out the company’s on-demand marketing suite.

ATLANTA— A team of researchers led by Charlie Kemp, director of the Center for Healthcare Robotics in the Health Systems Institute at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Emory University, have found a way to instruct a robot to find and deliver an item it may have never seen before using a more direct manner of communication, a laser pointer.

ROCKVILLE, MD-- Supernus Pharmaceuticals Inc. has closed a private placement of $75 million in non-convertible, non-recourse promissory notes to institutional investors. The notes are secured by royalties generated from sales of Oracea and Sanctura XR, two products that use Supernus technologies and are marketed by its licensees.

DURHAM, NC—A therapy that holds promise for enlisting the immune system in the fight against cancer, HIV and infectious disease just got a shot in the arm. Argos Therapeutics has closed a $35.2 million tranched Series C round led by TVM Capital with participation from new investors Mizuho Capital, Morningside Group and Japan Asia Investment Co.

RALEIGH, NC—Business and Financial Services, a company that provides cash advances to U.S. merchants, has raised a $9 million round from Edison Venture Fund. The Raleigh-based company says the proceeds will expand marketing and provide shareholder liquidity.

NEWNAN, GA--Halyard Capital, a New York-based private equity firm, in partnership with cable veteran John Brooks, acquired the cable assets from Newnan Utilities, a municipally-owned utility based in Newnan, GA, for $70 million.

ATLANTA--SoloHealth, a hi-tech health services company developing vision-testing kiosks,has secured $1.8 million in financing from private investors, including the Atlanta Technology Angels (ATA) investment group.

MEMPHIS, TN—ArGentis Pharmaceuticals, which is developing treatments for dry eye syndrome and a life-threatening autoimmune disease, has raised an undisclosed amount of funding from Innova Memphis Inc., an early-stage investment fund.

The TechJournal's bi-annual RTP DeckParty event will be taking place lakeside in a few weeks in Meridian Parkway just outside Research Triangle Park. This will be the first time the DeckParty series stops off at the lake at Meridian.

ORLANDO, FL—Caring for the more than 6 million Americans who suffer from Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases and 5.4 million debilitated by stroke, will cost more than $200 billion this year. “That’s bigger than the war in Iraq,” says NeoCytex co-founder, Nilabh Chaudhary. “So a method to regenerate brain cells will have a high impact.”

ATLANTA—Biofisica Inc., an Atlanta-based company specializing in wound care therapy, has obtained a commitment of $2.3 million in financing from investors. The funding will support Biofisica’s continued marketing efforts in the UK and ongoing planning initiatives in the United States.

BIRMINGHAM AL – An experimental drug that has proven effective in treating muscular dystrophy also works for cystic fibrosis, according to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

DURHAM, NC—Venture capitalists and entrepreneurs may rail against the government for various reasons, but the in reality they are intricately linked. So says Mark G. Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association. Heesen said the NVCA is lobbying Congress regarding the capital gains tax, the FDA’s “ridiculous interpretation” of what constitutes a small business, the patent bill.

WINSTON-SALEM, NC—New jobs and increased activity are expected at the Regenerative Medicine Project at Piedmont Triad Research Park following Wake Forest Baptist’s selection as co-lead of the $85 million Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM).

BALTIMORE, MD--Social Solutions, a Baltimore-based seller of performance management technology to the non-profit sector, has received additional funding from IDEA Fund Partners. With this funding and an initial investment by WWC Capital Group, Social Solutions closes its A round with a total of $2.75 million.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, FL—The problem with much cybercrime such as ID theft is that even if you catch it once it happens, it often requires time-consuming fixes. Authentium’s new SafeCentral product offers Internet users a way to lock down PCS and launch a secure browser anytime they plan to do online banking or buying.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC--The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) today announced the results of their 2007 CED North Carolina Venture Report in conjunction with the start of CED’s 25th annual Venture conference in Durham, NC. According to the report, North Carolina companies raised more than $900 million in venture capital investments - a 72 percent increase over 2006. Nationally, venture capital increased by 16 percent over 2006.

ATLANTA - Salmonella are wily and obnoxious bacterial invaders--escape artists capable of evading multiple immune responses and causing a harsh and debilitating intestinal infection. Researchers have come closer to understanding how these bacteria manage to thwart two major categories of immune defenses at once and set up shop in a host organism

ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FL—At a casual lunch in 2006, Mark Thomason, co-founder and CEO of iConvene and co-founder David Krinker, both self-described “geeks,” discussed how time-consuming it was to plan, book and manage meetings for their respective non-profit organizations. “We scheduled travels worldwide online, but to set up a meeting down the street required a lot of work, driving around, and phone calls,” Thomason says. They looked and looked for something that would help, and finding nothing, created a solution.

ATLANTA—DiaKine Therapeutics says its developmental drug, Lisofylline (LSF), significantly reduced indicators of inflammation in visceral fat tissue that predict heart disease and diabetes risk. The Charlottesville, VA-based company disclosed the findings at the Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology annual conference in Atlanta.

CHARLOTTE, NC—Sencera, a developer of photovoltaic systems, has raised $3.6 million in a round led by Quercus Trust. The company says the funds will be used to accelerate increases in cell efficiency and to complete the Viper manufacturing platform projected to make solar modules at a cost less than $1 per watt.

ROCKVILLE, MD—In search of a natural way to navigate the proliferation of content available on most TVs these days, with more headed to home screens soon, Hillcrest Labs decided that pointing would be the simplest way. So, “We invented the way to point at a TV and control it,” says Parag Sheth, Hillcrest Labs VP of corporate marketing. The company started this year with a $25 million D round and is licensing its technology to consumer electronics companies.

BRENTWOOD, TN--FrontStream Payments, Inc. a leading provider of payment solutions to small and medium-sized businesses has raised $16 million from Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners, Charlotte, NC-based the Wakefield Group, Fort Lauderdale’s Southpoint Capital, and Memphis-based SSM Partners.

KNOXVILLE, TN—New research from a scientist at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has uncovered information that may someday lead to a better flu vaccine.

DURHAM, N.C.—Prostate tumors grew more quickly in mice who exercised than in those who did not, leading to speculation that exercise may increase blood flow to tumors, according to a new study by researchers in the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center (DCCC) and the Duke Prostate Center.

INTERPARK, FL—Highwinds Network Group Inc., which blew in a fat $55 million round last month, decided to build out its own network about a year and half ago. It had the advantage of the most recent high-speed technology, says Mark Hayes, VP of marketing and business development. It created a robust network backed by user-friendly software that vastly simplifies content delivery, says Hayes.

BALTIMORE, MD--A team led by Johns Hopkins researchers has solved important puzzles concerning how certain proteins guide the reproduction of bacteria, discoveries that could lead to a new type of antibiotics.

CARY, NC—HumanCentric Technologies Inc., a product development services company, has moved to new, larger headquarters in Cary. The company says its revenues increased 41 percent and its staff 28 percent since its 2000 inception.

DURHAM, NC--Metabolon, a company developing diagnostic products for diabetes, ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) and prostate cancer, has drawn down $3 million of a $5 million raise, according to the Triangle Business Journal, which cites a state regulatory filing.

ATHENS, GA—When cells become cancerous, the sugars on their surfaces undergo distinct changes that set them apart from healthy cells. For decades, scientists have tried to exploit these differences by training the immune system to attack cancerous cells before they can spread and ravage the body. Now, University of Georgia researchers have taken a step closer to that elusive cancer vaccine.

RESTON, VA—A number of news aggregation sites such as Digg and Reddit allow users to vote on stories they find of interest, and top vote-getters lead on their daily lists of Web content. Publish 2, a startup that landed a $2.3 million funding recently, is building a site where only journalists can vote for stories related to their coverage areas and a social network where they can interact.

CHARLESTON, SC—Myconostica, a Manchester UK-based medical diagnostic company specializing in rapid and highly specific tests for life-threatening fungal infections has closed an $7.7 million oversubscribed C round of financing from a number of international private equity investors. The new funds will be used to launch the company’s first two products and establish new U.S. headquarters in Charleston, SC.

CHARLOTTE, NC—Back in 2001, Rich Lee, CEO of Charlotte-based Hosted Solutions, bought the assets of a bankrupt data center in Cary. Hosted Solutions, the company he formed, then picked up a $15 million data center in Charlotte for “pennies on the dollar,” in 2003. It survived tough times, and after five years of profitability, sold today for $140 million to ABRY Partners, a private equity firm.

KANNAPOLIS, NC—PPD Inc., a global contract research organization, is opening an office at the North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, which may bring 200 to 300 new jobs. The jobs will be added over a 24-to-36-month period and will focus on clinical research.

LOUISVILLE, KY—Potentia Pharmaceuticals Inc., a development stage biotech company with a Phase I product initially aimed at age-related macular degeneration, has raised $12 million led by HealthCare Ventures and MASA Life Science Ventures.

CHARLOTTE, NC—Hosted Solutions, the data center and managed services company, has been acquired by ABRY Partners, a Boston, MA private equity firm, for $140 million.

COLUMBIA, SC--Collexis (OTCBB:CLXS), a developer of high definition search and discovery software, has raised gross proceeds of $2.7 million through the private placement of 3.6 million shares of restricted common stock to institutional and other accredited investors at 75 cents a share.

VIENNA, VA—Valhalla Partners, which recently closed a total of $14 million in investments in three mid-Atlantic technology companies, sees future opportunities in “green information technology,” says Hooks Johnson, general partner and founder.

RESTON, VA—Updata Partners, a venture capital firm that recently closed its fourth fund at more than $233 million, says a key element they look for in a technology company is a “growth factor.”