A Chapman University student formed a company to capitalize on the trend of apps for texting within Apple’s most recent operating system, iOS 10.
Twenty-four-year-old senior Eli Aizenstat’s Beatshare offers two products. One is a traditional app people can use to send song snippets sourced through Apple Music, SoundCloud and Spotify, along with a video or picture. The second service enables the same function within Apple’s iMessage texting platform.
The popularity of messaging is growing exponentially, both in Apple’s iMessage and through apps such as WhatsApp. The combined user base of the top four chat apps was larger last year than the combined user base of the top four social networks, according to Business Insider. Facebook is the only one on both lists; its messaging app ranked No. 2, and its social networking site ranked No. 1.
Aizenstat, who’s Beatshare’s chief executive officer, developed the idea in 2014, submitting it to the Leatherby Center’s 2015 Business Plan Competition. The Leatherby Center at Chapman houses Launch Labs, an incubator for entrepreneurs.
Beatshare won first place, and Aizenstat went on to enter the California Dreamin’ Business Plan Competition, winning second place.
“California Dreamin’ opened doors for us to present to the various angel groups in Southern California,” Aizenstat said.
Beatshare received about $20,000 in funding from the competitions, he said. Barry Lieberman, who became Aizenstat’s mentor through the Leatherby Center, serves as president and chief operating officer. He founded and ran Advantage Plus Marketing Group Inc. for more than 20 years.
Lieberman also is an angel investor who invested in Beatshare in all of its financing rounds.
Beatshare closed a $785,000 seed round last winter that was used for product development and intellectual property, Aizenstat said. It also obtained a $250,000 investment from the Cove Fund 1 last summer. The for-profit fund is based at the University of California-Irvine’s The Cove innovation center but isn’t directly affiliated with it.
Beatshare is in the process of raising $1.5 million for market development, such as educating consumers on how to use its technology. It’s also engaging with businesses, such as movie studios, about using the technology to enhance their products, for example, making snippets of movies available.
Beatshare’s direct competition on messaging platforms is TuneMoji, Aizenstat said. Indirect competition includes Musical.ly, a social network focusing on music and lifestyle, and Dubsmash, which allows users to make videos that dub over an audio recording or soundbite. Beatshare tries to differentiate itself by focusing more on “bringing rich multimedia into messaging ecosystems,” Aizenstat said.
AI Firm Grows
An Irvine-based company that uses artificial intelligence to mine information from email, social media and websites for business customers experienced big growth last year. Bitvore Corp. grew sales 400%, President Jeff Curie said.
The company added many “important” financial firms to its subscriber base, including New York City-based S&P Global, New York City-based Moody’s Investors Services and San Antonio, Texas-based USAA. More than 45 investment banks, mutual funds and insurance companies pay for subscriptions to its “precision intelligence service to boost their revenue growth,” Curie said via email.
Bitvore began testing its new intelligence service for sales teams in January, “which expands its addressable market size dramatically from the financial industry to nearly all companies that operate a sales force with the challenge of growing revenue in strategic accounts,” he said. Bitvore has 17 employees. It does not disclose its revenue, Curie said.
Millions Raised
Companies that have participated in one Irvine incubator over the past two years have raised a collective $24 million.
EvoNexus is supported by sponsors and housed at The Vine as part of Irvine Company’s real estate portfolio of startup space in Orange County. Irvine Co. provides the free space to EvoNexus, which in turn provides free space to its startups.
The incubator opened its OC outpost in January 2015. The original is in San Diego. Startups must apply to be accepted and can stay for up to two years. EvoNexus doesn’t take equity in them, though it provides resources and mentors.
Twenty-four startups have gone through the Irvine location, and eight of those have graduated and moved on. The 24 startups have produced 115 jobs in Orange County, according to the incubator.
Startups currently at EvoNexus include Abtum, Immersive Entertainment and Kadho. Abtum has developed radio-frequency technology to improve the functionality of filters for mobile devices, wireless networks and the Internet of Things. Immersive Entertainment creates virtual reality software for consumers and developers. Kadho is a software development company for apps and children’s toys with a subsidiary called Kadho Sports focused on integrating neuroscience and machine learning into sports to help athletes improve decision making in critical game-time situations.
