Trubify, a Newport Beach-based livestreaming platform for music artists, recently raised a $4 million round of financing.
The investment round was led by the Cove Fund II, an Irvine-based seed-stage venture fund focused on Southern California. Walter Cruttenden, the co-founder and chairman of micro-investing app Acorns, and Ken Borkan, founder and president of Los Angeles-based KB Capital, also contributed.
Trubify’s platform lets musicians upload and stream live music sessions, as well as manage control over who sees their published content.
The company is currently focused on enhancing its revenue-generation features for the platform, including a tipping option and an analytics platform that helps artists maximize their engagement with fans.
It generates revenue through in-app purchases such as a 9% commission on all artist tips. It also aims to service ads at the beginning of livestreams and archived content to generate additional revenue.
Trubify was founded in 2020 by lifelong musician Stephen Tyszka, who is also the CEO of recording studios business Skye Studios.
Digital Motors
Digital Motors Corp., an online sales platform for automotive dealerships, recently closed a $10 million Series A round of financing led by DN Capital.
Additional investors included Autotech Ventures and InMotion Ventures, the investment arm of Jaguar Land Rover.
The Irvine-based firm announced the new round of financing along with an expansion to Canada.
The company’s platform allows dealers to share vehicle information and fully transact online. Meanwhile, it lets consumers browse cars, structure monthly payments, and go as deep into the car-buying process as they wish online.
“Customers who configure their vehicle purchase online drive to bottom line profitability, while also being much happier with the buying experience,” said Chief Executive Andy Hinrichs.
Hinrichs is the co-founder and former chief executive of fellow Irvine automotive startup AutoGravity Corp. Hinrichs earned a Business Journal Excellence in Entrepreneurship award in 2018, while with AutoGravity. He left the company shortly after that, and started Digital Motors with a pair of other former AutoGravity execs.
AutoGravity, which transitioned to a car subscription business a few months before the pandemic hit the U.S., initiated a series of major layoffs in late 2020 and 2021, and subsequently shut its business down, according to a former employee.
PARTNERSHIPS
Irvine-based CureClick and Thread of North Carolina have formed a partnership to improve patient recruitment for clinical trials.
CureClick tackles major barriers to clinical trial recruitment, including lack of patient awareness and fear of experimental medication safety, through a community of patient activists and influencers.
CureClick Ambassadors share approved messages, images, videos and other assets on sites like Facebook and Twitter to disseminate education and information on clinical trials.
The company’s more than 5,000 ambassadors will provide eligible participants to Thread, a clinical trial platform that helps companies organize and oversee “decentralized” or remote and hybrid studies.
CureClick was founded in 2014 by health tech-focused entrepreneur Fabio Gratton.
Thread, which also operates under the name Definitive Media Corp., received a $50 million investment from Water Street Healthcare Partners and JLL Partners last August and has facilitated more than 100 clinical trials to date.
LAUNCH
NeurOptics, the Irvine-based developer of an advanced pupillometer device, has launched its Pupillometry Education Symposiums platform.
The company said its online symposiums will cater to physicians, providers and biomedical engineers who utilize pupillometry for critical care patients.
NeurOptics’ NPi-200 Pupillometer takes about three seconds to scan each eye; it then produces a reactivity rating between zero and five based on its neurological pupil index. Any score that is less than three indicates abnormal activity such as a stroke or other brain trauma.
“We are proud to offer high-level programs with critical care experts, in-person, live, or on-demand, to provide clinicians and staff with the information and tools needed to implement an effective pupillometry program in their hospital,” said Chief Executive William Worthen.
NeurOptics, which serves more than 470 trauma and stroke centers in the U.S., recently completed its move from Laguna Hills to the Irvine Spectrum, and more than doubled the size of its local footprint.
Shaka
Shaka of Irvine has launched its culture-building software platform for businesses and employees.
The company’s software platform pairs employees together for short networking sessions and hosts team challenges such as food drives or meditation activities. It also offers private community pages for leadership groups or sports teams.
The company’s clients, mostly tech-focused employers, pay a subscription fee on a per-user per month basis.
Founder Melanie Wertzberger was inspired to start Shaka after working at a startup that grew quickly across multiple offices. She found it difficult to meet new team members in different departments or locations and wanted to create a method for introductions that wouldn’t feel awkward or forced, she said.
“The days of us all being in one office are gone,” said Wertzberger, 24, who is also an MBA student at the UCI Paul Merage School of Business.
“For a lot of companies, this is a long-term solution to building engagement among employees.”
Shaka was recently accepted into the Blackstone LaunchPad Fellowship, where it plans to focus on client acquisition and build an advisory board, Wertzbeger said.
NowRx
NowRx, a Mountain Valley-based upstart with executive offices in Irvine, recently announced the launch of a telehealth service to complement its prescription delivery service.
The service will begin for an HIV prevention medication, pre-exposure prophylaxis. It will include a free physician assessment, lab testing and home delivery for eligible participants in California.
“NowRx Telehealth is an exciting development because it puts us at the forefront of digital healthcare,” said Cary Breese, chief executive of NowRx.
“No one else in the industry offers the capability to consult with a doctor and receive prescription medications within hours without leaving your home.”
NowRx said it will offer other specialty physicians for targeted conditions in the future.
The company, founded in 2015, has delivered over 200,000 prescriptions to more than 28,000 customers in California and Arizona to date.
