Sitting behind the wheel of Fisker Automotive Inc.’s flagship Karma, you get the feeling that no detail was overlooked.
Its ultra-chic interior, offering touch-screen summaries of everything from mileage to engine performance, reinforces a general impression that the luxury-electric sedan is a designer’s delight. But the front seat feels a bit like a cockpit, as space is a premium due to the elongated battery that traverses the body of the vehicle.
The car, which can go zero to 60 in six seconds in hybrid mode, barely makes a peep when started up via an ignition button. The sound resembles that of a rising elevator more than an American sports car that can get up to 125 miles per hour on the open road.
Its technology features an advanced powertrain that combines an electric motor with a gas-powered engine. After 50 miles the internal-combustion gasoline engine powers the electric motors for an additional 250 miles. The modes can be accessed seamlessly while driving in city traffic or northbound on the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway as in this trip, one of the first media test drives of the Karma locally.
Santiago Canyon Drive provided the perfect backdrop with its scenic twists and turns. The roughly $100,000 Karma hugged every corner, highlighting its low center of gravity, heavier weight and sleek design, which also presents some challenges traversing dips in and out parking lots and city streets.
Its hunched front hood, designed in the mold of a crouched jaguar, protrudes above the dash board. The panoramic view from the driver’s seat is somewhat compromised, and it takes getting used to, particularly from this driver more accustom to the handlings of a Chevy Cobalt.
There wasn’t much opportunity to punch it in the near rush hour, but other journalists got the opportunity to do so last week at the inaugural Bodensee-Elektrik Rallye, a 248-mile race that winds through the Alps through Austria, Germany and Switzerland. The Karma faced off against the Nissan Leaf, Chevy Volt, Mercedes B-Class F-Cell, Opel Ampera and more than a dozen other cars in four categories: pure-battery electric, fuel-cell vehicle, extended-range electric and plug-in hybrid.
Web Celebs
Irvine-based Brand Affinity Technologies Inc., an advertising startup that links celebrity endorsement deals through its extensive database, has raised $7.5 million in a fourth venture round.
The proceeds will be used to expand the company’s social networking site, fantapper.com, which allows users to post content and interact with their favorite stars such as pop singer Ashlee Simpson or pro athletes Drew Brees and Rajon Rondo.
The second iteration was recently launched and counts more than 5 million monthly unique users that access and produce real-time content through smart phone and tablet apps, Twitter and Facebook.
Brand Affinity runs a specialized database that hooks up advertisers and marketers with celebrities and athletes for endorsement deals. The company has signed deals with 4,000 athletes and celebrities, as well as major brands including the MLB Players Association, ESPN, Fox Sports, Sony and Tostitos.
Brand Affinity was started in 2007 by local technology startup veterans Ryan and Chad Steelberg, and saw gross billings top $44 million in 2011, up 70% from a year earlier.
The latest financing round was led by Chicago-based Matthew Pritzker Co., along with existing investors Ad Pepper Media International NV in the Netherlands and Miramar Venture Partners in Corona del Mar, among others.
This new round brings total investments to more than $34 million.
Jock Site
Former Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green has partnered with local entrepreneur Brendon Kensel to launch a social networking site that links sports fans with their favorite athletes.
Newport Beach-based startup JockTalk is running beta tests through June and will be among a handful of hopefuls making pitches to investors this week at the VC in the OC conference at the Huntington Beach Hyatt Regency Resort & Spa hosted by Aliso Viejo-based Octane.
“I always wanted to have a better connection with the fans,” said Green, a Tustin native who holds the Dodgers’ single-season record with 49 home runs in 2001. “I left the game before Twitter started to blow up.”
That’s why Green and a handful of other retired players—including the NFL’s Warren Moon, NHL’s Jeremy Roenick and MLB’s Carlos Delgado and Aaron Boone—are among more than 60 athletes in the fold. Current stars include Paul Pierce, who has 2.2 million Twitter followers, as well as Deron Williams and former UCLA standout Kevin Love.
Revenue will hinge on sponsorships, online retail and syndication. Kensel, managing partner of Newport Beach-based investment advisory Kensel & Co. LLC, said there has been interest in the site from sports publishers and aggregators.
“We’re getting a lot of excitement from athletes,” he said. “We have pretty good buzz right now.”
JockTalk hopes to raise as much as $5 million in its first fundraising round later this year.
