From VentureWire Professional, October 10, 2006
By Lorie Konish

David H. Murdock, the owner of Dole Food Company Inc., and creator of the new North Carolina Research Campus, has doubled his venture funding commitment to the research campus to $200 million.

Murdock and Castle & Cooke have set out to create a research campus in Kannapolis, N.C., about 25 miles from Charlotte, N.C. The project aims to create a nexus of research facilities for academic institutions, including the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, North Carolina State and Duke University. Dole's research and development group will also have a strong presence on campus.

Higgs declined to speculate on how many companies can fit on the campus, which will also include housing. The sprawling 350-acre campus will feature a core lab facility of 311,000 square feet.

According to Higgs, the fund plans to co-invest in deals, with the potential of leading some deals as well. The current plan is slated to invest about $2 million to $5 million per company, he said, for a maximum of $10 million. The project will focus on a variety of companies including those in medical devices, agricultural biotechnology and diagnostic health care IT.

Higgs said that next year they anticipate investing in three to five deals and projects they will invest $12 million to $15 million per year. The current plan is to aggressively talk to venture capitalists to see if their investment strategies line up.

"That's how the first deal that we're really interested in came to us," Higgs said of a medical device company that the fund may invest in by the end of the year. Higgs said they have been approached by various companies interested in moving their headquarters to the campus. The advantage for them, he said, is that the companies are able to pool resources including costly research equipment.

www.ncresearchcampus.net