Irvine-based accelerator Cie Digital Labs and auto industry veteran James Chen are betting on the fact that today’s consumers want things ASAP—as soon as possible—including tire installation service.
“Today’s consumers are busier than ever with increasingly less patience to wait for anything,” said Chen, president of ASAP Tire. “Yet tire installation services haven’t changed in decades. You still have to wait hours at a tire store over multiple visits to shop for the right tire and get tires replaced.”
The mobile tire installation company brings the service to consumers on-demand—simply share the location and car model through the ASAP Tire app, and a certified technician shows up and does the work.
Chen is president of Axis Sport Tuning Inc. in Santa Fe Springs, which manufactures wheels for high-end cars. The company started in 1997 as a retail store in Anaheim.
Cie Digital Chief Executive Anderee Berengian said the company is “completely upending old-school traditions.” He also serves as a managing partner at Irvine-based venture capital firm RezVen Partners LLC, which is an investor in ASAP Tire.
Cie Digital helped ASAP Tire raise $1.8 million. Other investors include Wavemaker Partners. Former eBay and Pepsi executive Jim Davis, who’s also a managing partner at RezVen, will advise ASAP Tire on marketing strategy.
ASAP Tire operates nationwide, including the Los Angeles and Orange County areas, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, Connecticut, New York and New Jersey.
— Sherry Hsieh
Fast Pitch
Applied Innovation, the University of California-Irvine’s campus-based “innovation district,” designed to help create a more entrepreneurial ecosystem, hosted a fast-pitch event on Nov. 30. The program was put together by Aliso Viejo-based accelerator OCTANe and consulting firm Black Dog Venture Partners in Tempe, Ariz.
OCTANe Chief Executive Bill Carpou said that while it’s worked with out-of-state investors when raising capital for local startups, it was the first time it brought in non-California startups to pitch to local investors.
Participating investors include Jordan Wahbeh, managing partner of BayAngels in Sausalito, Mark Prynn, managing partner of Bethesda Group Fund LP in Irvine, and Grant Van Cleve, president of Tech Coast Angels OC.
Black Dog’s participation brought in several startups from Arizona and Nevada that told the Business Journal it’s challenging raising money in those states and that they hoped the event would introduce them to promising investors.
Local startups presenting included Ops Guru, a computer software company whose technology is designed to reduce patient waiting times at medical facilities, and Seasonally Fresh, a marketplace that connects small to midsize producers—farms, ranches, wild-caught providers—to businesses and consumers. The latter’s platform is available in alpha version and is raising money to ready a beta launch.
GermFalcon, which makes a commercially available germ-killing robot for commercial aircraft, was another participating OC company. The machine uses germicidal UVC technology to sanitize airplane cabins. The company says it takes only three minutes to sanitize 54 seats.
— Sherry Hsieh
VR Move
A company that produces virtual reality content for escape rooms and entertainment companies signed a lease to build a 6,000-square-foot area on the fourth floor of a building it leases at 515 N. Sycamore St. in Santa Ana. That’s a block from the Esports Arena, a 15,000-square-foot indoor venue that opened in 2015 at 120 W. Fifth St.
Escape VR LLC is building out the area in response to demand from larger clients for arena-scale VR multiplayer experiences, co-founder and Chief Executive Simon Chu told the Business Journal. They want them “despite the costs,” he said.
The company’s main focus is helping other companies tell their stories through VR. Its clients are theme parks, movie theaters and family entertainment centers. It also may soon let the general public help test its experiences once the buildout is complete—hopefully by late January, Chu said.
The company launched in August 2016. Clients include Escape Games Canada, Escape Zone 60 in Florida, and Escaparium, which has locations in Canada. Escape VR moved its headquarters in October from the Hungry Lab incubator at WeWork in Irvine to Santa Ana.
It also maintains a presence at UploadLA, a 20,000-square-foot co-working, training and community space in Marina del Rey that’s focused on augmented reality and VR companies and students.
— Deirdre Newman
