California Venture Forum Selects Presenting Companies For May Investment Conference.

Business Editors

COSTA MESA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 29, 2001

The California Venture Forum (CVF) today announced that it has selected 15 entrepreneurs to showcase their businesses before an audience of potential investors at the 14th Semi-Annual Investor Forum to be held on May 17, 2001 at the Phoenix Club in Anaheim, Calif.

Nobel Laureate in Physics, Dr. Melvin Schwartz will be the keynote speaker. Since 1994, the California Venture Forum has created a venue for start-up and emerging companies to meet potential investors, with the last nine investor forums enabling companies to raise more than $80 million in investment money and more than half of all companies acquiring funding since its inception.

The 15 presenters span an array of fields and technologies, reflecting the diversity of innovation that is the lifeblood of the investment community. For the first time, however, most presenters are from outside the Orange County/Los Angeles metroplex. Of the firms that submitted winning business plans, four are based in Orange County, three in Los Angeles County and five from other areas of California. And to demonstrate the forum's increasingly wide geographic appeal, three presenters are from Colorado, Maryland and New York, respectively.

CVF presenters from Orange County, Calif. include:

-- Dermacel Inc., Laguna Niguel, Calif., is "Advancing the Science of Skin
Care" by providing patented products for consumers that improve the tone,
texture and clarity of one's skin.

-- Global Health Check, Laguna Niguel, is developing a low-cost, blood test
strip with multiple tests for cardiovascular and general health including
diabetes, kidney and liver disorders for global distribution.

-- National Water & Power, Santa Ana, Calif., specializes in utility cost
recovery and management by providing metering and billing services for owners
of tenant-occupied properties and developing software that large utilities use
to control their billing.

-- Watch It Work, Irvine, Calif., is bringing new product demonstrations and
learning capabilities to the medical industry through its 3D user controlled
interactive technology which gives viewers complete control over a product's
movements and functions.

CVF winners from Los Angeles County include:

-- MGi Applied Genomics, Long Beach, Calif., has developed a

proprietary DNA based biochip technology for human genetic

analysis that reads the genetic code and identifies key genes

that cause disease and control response to drugs.

-- Targeted Pharmaceuticals, Los Angeles, has developed a

platform technology that facilitates and enhances drug

delivery by using surface modifiers that reduce the toxicity

of pharmaceuticals.

-- Wilshire Bioscience Inc., Santa Monica, Calif., is developing

a simple, cost-effective blood test for the early detection

and screening of breast cancer based on the presence of a

retrovirus.

Other California presenters include:

-- BioZone, Pittsburg, Calif., is a multi-dimensional company

specializing in drug delivery technology, drug development,

anti-addiction technology, new product development and third

party manufacturing.

-- I-Witness Inc. dba DriveCam Video Systems, San Diego, is

developing vehicle safety products that improve driver and

traffic safety and which is part of a driving feedback system

used by commercial fleets to promote safety and reduce

collisions.

-- Swiftcomm, Riverside, Calif., provides high-speed Internet

access to business customers in the Inland Empire via its own

fixed wireless network which could service the more than

65,000 business customers within the Inland Empire that are

outside of the existing DSL footprint.

-- Verdisys, Fresno, Calif., is an infrastructure company focused

on the agribusiness market that leverages satellite broadband

connectivity with a suite of predictive modeling tools and

applications to enhance profitability in the supply chain.

-- Xavos Corp., Woodside, Calif., is developing drugs to improve

treatment of herpes infections and pain in the peripheral

nervous system.

Presenters from outside California include:

-- Capital Genomix Inc., Gaithersburg, Md., an emerging leader in

genomic research, provides new approaches for gene discovery

and function, drug development and diagnostic tools for the

advancement of human health.

-- Cardio-optics, Boulder, Colo., has developed technologies to

optically see through blood, enabling visualization in

cardiovascular and ophthalmologic procedures.

-- Strategic Light Inc., New York, is developing proprietary

Electrically Tunable Optical Holographic (ETOH)(TM) filter

technology for use within fiber optic networks that provides a

cost-effective, all optical solution that allows for increased

network speed and capacity.

According to Alan Schechter, forum chairman, now that the first stage business plan review process is completed, the 15 selected companies then attend a professional training and mentoring program that prepares them for interfacing with the investment community. The all-day presentation workshop helps coach the entrepreneurs through their plans and presentations. After the workshop, each company is furnished with professionally produced audio-visual presentations that help them in presenting the audience of potential investors on the day of the forum.

For more information, call 714/235-8655 or visit the California Venture Forum Web site at http://www.calventureforum.org/.

A California non-profit corporation, the California Venture Forum hosts investment conferences twice annually -- each May and November.

Conference sponsors include Southern California Edison; Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth; Roth Capital Partners; Wells Fargo Bank; Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly; Deloitte & Touche; Ernst & Young, LLP; Kelly & Company; Crosby Heafey Roach & May; NASA Commercialization Center; Biomedical Market Newsletter; NEST Hi-Tech Accelerator; Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP; Riordan & McKinzie; BSKB Medical Ventures, LLC; Lesley, Thomas, Schwarz & Postma Inc.; Arter & Hadden; The Dan Black Program in Physics and Business at California State University, Fullerton; Business Wire; Daly-Swartz Public Relations; California-Israel Chamber of Commerce; Philosopher's Stone Solutions; Small Business Development Center of Pomona; Association of Internet Professionals; VenturePoint Tech Coast SBDC; the Tech Coast Venture Network; the American Electronics Association; The Forum for Women Entrepreneurs; the Milken Institute; and the Software Council of Southern California.