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August 18, 2004
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Affinergy Secures More Than $2 Million in Investments to Commercialize Coatings
MCNC, Trinity Healthcare, Charleston Angel Partners, Wilmington Investor Network and numerous individuals participate in larger than expected funding round.
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., August 18, 2004 - Affinergy, Inc., a biomaterial coatings company with unique capabilities to regulate biological processes on the surface of synthetic materials, announced today that it has secured more than $2 million in funding in its initial closing of its first round of investment capital. The funds will be used to expand commercial applications for the technology, fund pre-clinical studies, and drive commercial partner agreements.
"We are grateful for the support of these investors who have helped us exceed our initial funding goals," said Peyton Anderson, CEO of Affinergy. "This gives us greater capacity to invest in our growth and accelerate our commercialization plans. Moreover, our investors collectively have great expertise and contacts in our markets which will serve us well in the future. While we have the capacity to take more funding now, we have begun redirecting our energies and focus to securing partnership agreements."
"MCNC believes that Affinergy's technology has tremendous potential across numerous large markets," said Dave Rizzo, President and CEO of MCNC-RDI, the largest investor in the round. "We are excited about the combination of a platform technology, large unmet commercial needs, and a strong management team. In addition to supporting Affinergy as investors, we look forward to pursuing potential joint collaborations in biosensors, an emerging focus area of MCNC. We are excited to be joined by a number of other value added investors groups in funding Affinergy."
"Trinity Healthcare is excited to join with other investors in advancing Affinergy's business," said Thad Brown, Managing Director of Trinity Healthcare. "We believe this technology has tremendous potential to improve quality of healthcare while simultaneously reducing overall costs. It is exciting and rare to find a single technology with such broad applications within healthcare. Trinity Healthcare looks forward to supporting Affinergy as it commercializes its technology in the medical device field."
"A large number of Charleston Angel Partners ("CHAP") members have enthusiastically decided to invest in Affinergy," said Rick Fenwick, Executive Administrator of CHAP. "Our due diligence validated that the commercial demand for technologies like Affinergy are very significant. We also were attracted to their financial model which could build a very successful business without raising large amounts of capital. Our members are excited to support the company financially and with their expertise."
"Wilmington Investor Network ("WIN") looks forward to supporting Affinergy as it executes its business plan," said Michael G. Cain, Managing Member of Wilmington Investor Network. "We are excited that our first group investment is in such an exciting biotechnology application, has such a strong management team and diverse potential revenue streams. WIN looks forward to supporting Affinergy with our contacts and financial resources as the Company progresses."
About Affinergy
Affinergy's revolutionary "biological glue" is a platform technology designed to greatly improve the performance of medical devices by regulating the biology on their surfaces. Applications include blocking biofilm formation, promoting specific cell growth, and enabling biomolecular immobilization. The coatings technology is highly modular, target-specific, and easy to apply in manufacturing. Affinergy can help medical device suppliers grow sales by differentiating existing devices as well as creating new products. By creating "tunable" bioactive surfaces on medical devices, Affinergy can contribute to the lowering of healthcare costs and improving of patient outcomes.
For more information, visit www.affinergy.com or contact Peyton Anderson at (919) 345-4732.
About MCNC
MCNC Research & Development Institute develops new technologies through its own initiatives and as a research partner for businesses and the U.S. government, conducting advanced and applied research across a broad technology spectrum, including microsystems, flexible electronics, sensor development, signal electronics, wireless systems, microfabrication, high-speed secure networks and grid computing. MCNC Ventures provides early-stage funding and assistance to technology-based start-up companies in North Carolina.
About Trinity Healthcare
Trinity Healthcare Development, LLC (THD), is a private investment group based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that focuses on early stage, innovative health care/life science business ventures in the Southeast.
About Charleston Angel Partners
Charleston Angel Partners is a member-driven South Carolina LLC composed of experienced business and professional people in South Carolina who share the mission of promoting high growth economic development in the region while working together to improve their individual investment returns.
About Wilmington Investor Network
Wilmington Investor Network ("WIN") is an angel investment group of successful business people that provides financial resources and business expertise to help high potential emerging companies. WIN co-invests with other early stage investors and continues supporting successful companies throughout their growth cycles."
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