The cold-pressed juice market is saturated, which is why Mode Nutrition Chief Executive and co-founder Tammo Walter say it isn’t enough to offer only cold-pressed juices. A company must offer products that carry “properties that are really important for athletes.”
Mode’s current power drink line consists of a beet and berries-flavored preworkout endurance and power booster; a mango and ginger anticramping energy shot designed to be taken while working out; and a cucumber and lime-flavored recovery juice to be taken after workout. The drinks can be bought as a trio or individually.
Walter, an advertising executive and a cyclist, said he founded the Costa Mesa-based company out of a personal need—he was unable to find natural sports nutrition products suitable for performance athletes like himself.
“You cannot physically eat as much turmeric as our cold-pressed bottles,” said co-founder Nikki Halbur, referring to the mango-ginger energy shot. The drink contains curcumin, an ingredient derived from turmeric roots that carries antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. She said the drinks have no preservatives and that each bottle contains “1.4 pounds of cold-pressed vegetables and fruits,” as well as calculated dosages of performance supplements.
Walter said it makes sense to bring Halbur onboard. In addition to her career in supply-chain management, she also launched an alcoholic beverage company in 2009—adult chocolate milk, anyone?
The company, which introduced two products at its launch party last week, will enter next year with a suite of four products: power drinks, energy blocks, protein powder and hydration liquid.
A cyclist enthusiast told the Business Journal that he likes the flavors of the bite-sized energy blocks because “they are great for a quick energy boost when I am riding.”
Walter said the brand is targeting cyclists but that the products are really for “anyone who enjoys that active lifestyle and working out.”
The duo said the past 18 months have largely been devoted to research and development and that they plan to ramp up commercialization next year.
Products are available at the company’s 1,500-square-foot headquarters on Superior Avenue and via its website.
—Sherry Hsieh
Ideas, Man
Irvine Marriott isn’t a startup, but it plays one in the shower.
The property at the San Diego (I-405) Freeway and Von Karman Avenue turned three-fourths of bathrooms in its nearly 500 rooms into “shower-only” offerings as part of a $22 million renovation last year.
Now a “Splash of Brilliance” room makes its shower door a blank slate for a two-month test of new tech.
General Manager Scott McCoy said it intends to “help guests capture their moments of inspiration” without fear of forgetting.
“Who hasn’t come up with a brilliant idea” while bathing—then lost it completely by the rinse cycle.
More than half of business travelers “feel that their best ideas come while showering,” according to a 2017 Marriott survey that polled over 5,000 respondents ages 25 to 45 from the U.S., China, Canada, Spain and France.
Built-up steam on the door is “a canvas,” and guests use their fingers to write and draw what comes to mind. The shower door is equipped with touch-sensitive technology.
Water flows. Vision flows.
What’s written in the shower doesn’t stay in the shower, but is sent to the scribe’s email address.
Bethesda, Md.-based Marriott Corp. opened an innovation incubator called M Beta at its Charlotte Marriott City Center in October 2016, and has done pop-up labs in downtown Los Angeles—a temporary, interactive effort in January for passersby to try out hoteling ideas—and runs an in-house content studio under a CMO.
Irvine Marriott is owned by an affiliate of CB Richard Ellis Global Investors in L.A., which bought it in July 2015 for $126 million.
— Paul Hughes
H2O Matters
An Irvine startup using artificial intelligence technologies has advanced to the next round of the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE competition.
The four-year competition, which launched last year, is designed to develop and demonstrate how humans can collaborate with powerful AI technologies to meet some of the world’s biggest challenges.
T2H2O, established this year, is leveraging AI to develop predictive tools to improve water management and policy decisions in villages, cities, countries and on a global scale, according to Chief Executive Jay Bettinger.
T2H20 is the only team remaining from Orange County, and one of seven from Southern California.
The grand prize winner gets $3 million; second place $1 million; and third $500,000.
T2H20 employs 12 in Irvine and is privately funded.
—Chris Casacchia
