Link Closes On Round Of Funding

Research Triangle Park-based Link Technology Inc. has closed on a $750,000 round of financing, including a $500,000 investment by Access Investment Partners of Westport, Conn.

To date, the development-stage company has raised $2 million from the sale of convertible preferred stock to accredited individual investors, in addition to the $500,000 initial institutional investment. The round closure was made possible with the inclusion of $25,000 from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

The financing will help fund Link's operations through the third calendar quarter of 2000 and will allow the company to focus on completing several milestones. "These milestones include licensing the company's proprietary test for endotoxin to a major strategic partner and showing efficacy of the company's lead molecule in an animal model of asthma," said Donald H. Wilson III, president and CEO.

Additional funding for the ongoing clinical trials of the company's endotoxin test comes from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through a $1.2 million Small Business Innovation Research Phase II grant. The company has received a total of $200,000 in loans from the Biotechnology Center to develop the test. Link hopes to start receiving revenues from the test within the next two years.

As part of the investment transaction from Access Investment, Julian Landaus, that company's general partner, has joined Link's board of directors.

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