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Old Product, New Platforms for Trading Cards

A new app enables student-athletes to create online trading cards, like baseball trading cards that can be shared through social media. Newport Beach-based DraftCard Inc. was founded by Chris Burget, Kristin Currey and Bob Peterson.

Burget is a former Division I scholarship athlete and former recruiter with Chicago-based Next College Student Athlete, or NCSA, a for-profit organization that helps student-athletes with the college recruiting process. He said he saw a need to help increase student-athletes’ exposure—by making their profiles more social and shareable—for recruiters and college coaches to view.

Burget, who serves as chief executive, came up with the idea to take the thumbnail picture on an athlete’s resume, make it larger, and create an online trading card. He mentioned his idea to Currey, a former cybersecurity consultant, who said she’s managed multimillion-dollar divisions for Fortune 500 companies like Eastman Kodak. She serves as president and chief operating officer, and is also a former Division I scholarship athlete. Burget also enlisted longtime friend Peterson, who facilitated the financing. He serves as chief technology officer.

DraftCard enables young athletes to upload images, videos and highlights of themselves playing sports. They can add additional items to customize their cards, such as stats, position and GPA.

In May, the company signed a partnership with NCSA, enabling athletes who use the app to get verified with the organization, Burget said. The lead-generation partnership connects tens of thousands of high school student-athletes to more than 35,000 college coaches nationwide across 31 sports every year. DraftCard does co-presentations, along with NCSA’s team, to high school kids, parents and coaches, Currey said.

The company’s market is youth athletes, which used to be ages 12 to 19. Currey said parents are branding and promoting their kids as young as 9 these days.

“Obviously parents are a huge market for us, as well as scholarships are important to them financially,” she said. “But we also are focusing on making sports fun again and sharable. Youth sports is a $15 billion market,” she said, adding that there are about 36 million youth athletes in the U.S.

The company has raised more than $900,000. Burget declined to disclose the funding sources.

Laughter is Good Medicine

A Chapman University professor created and launched an app. Dodge College of Film and Media Arts adjunct professor Frank Chindamo created LaughMD, based in Los Angeles, where he lives. He serves as president of the company, which curates workplace-friendly comedy videos designed to reduce stress in healthcare providers so they can provide better healthcare.

Multiple studies show that lower stress and improved morale will reduce costs for healthcare, he said. Clients include hospitals, hospital groups and health insurers, as well as Medicare and Medicaid.

Here is how LaughMD works: Once the user signs into the app, they can rate their stress levels before and after watching a short comedy film. The categories include cartoons, stand-up, sketch comedy, funny animals and funny baby videos.

He’s self-funded the company with $80,000, plus $3,000 from a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign, he said.

Laughter is in his blood. At 19, he interned for “Saturday Night Live” and then worked on the original “Ghostbusters” movie. After his father, younger brother and stepfather all died in hospitals, he decided he wanted to bring laughter into hospitals as a form of therapeutic medicine.

In 2009, he created comedy TV channels for patient rooms at Cedars-Sinai and Kaiser Permanente in L.A. That wasn’t economically viable, he said. He then launched a comedy app for patients in 2013. That effort hasn’t gained traction, he said, attributing that to hospitals not wanting to try something unproven on patients.

For the new app, he did research to prove its effectiveness at Chapman and the University of Southern California, and created the current app with the help of the Rockford, Ill.-based Association of Applied and Therapeutic Humor.

Fin-Tech Co. Hits Milestone

An Irvine-based fin-tech company announced that it’s reached $1 billion in financing requested through its platform.

More than 750,000 car shoppers have downloaded AutoGravity’s app, collectively requesting more than $1 billion, according to the company.

Its technology connects car buyers seeking auto loans with lenders, carmakers and dealerships. Car shoppers apply for financing on their smartphones and see up to four personalized finance offers in minutes. It works with more than 2,000 dealerships, according to the company.

In July, AutoGravity received $30 million from VW Credit Inc., enabling its software to power the Volkswagen Credit smartphone app to provide financing for Volkswagen and Audi buyers in the U.S. VW Credit is the financial services arm of Herndon, Va.-based Volkswagen Group of America Inc.

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