The seed round was led by Silicon Valley-based Foundation Capital, with participation from AME Cloud Ventures and Cherubic Ventures.
iLife lets agents and brokers set up their own branded, online insurance agency to interact with customers and provide quotes. The company says it has collected over 60 million data points on products from top carriers, and it offers access to over 670,000 policy options to expedite sale cycles.
Ultimately, these features help insurers grow digital revenue and reduce back-office expenses by as much as 90%. Users retain 100% of commissions, while iLife generates revenue from subscription plans starting at $99.99 a month.
The company, founded in mid-2019, plans to use funds to grow its 14-person team.
Prodoscore of Irvine late last month raised $3 million in a seed round of financing from SNK Capital Partners, and also brought on David Powell as president.
The new investment for the employee productivity software maker brings total committed funds for 2021 to $5 million, the company said.
Powell, who will help the company scale its platform, adds 25 years of experience in the information technology industry.
He was most recently SVP of growth at Thoma Bravo-owned ConnectWise, following its acquisition of Perch Security in 2020. He was previously chief revenue officer at Corsica Technologies and a general manager of service provider business at LogicMonitor, both of which were sold to private equity firms.
“Visibility into the data around employee productivity and key insights about their work are going to be essential to the return to work model,” Powell said.
“Prodoscore is uniquely positioned to provide employers that visibility and give them actionable insights to efficiently manage their business going forward.”
Powell also pointed out that while many employees are returning to the office, company research indicates about 30% to 50% of the workforce may stay remote.
OFFICE SPACE
Oventus Medical Ltd., an Australia-based sleep therapy machine maker, recently established its U.S. base of operations at the 400 Spectrum Center Drive tower in the Irvine Spectrum.
The company’s main product, the O2Vent Optima, was invented by Chris Hart, who recently relocated to Orange County with his family.
Hart, a dentist, created the O2Vent because he wasn’t satisfied with existing sleep apnea therapies such as continuous positive airway pressure or CPAP machines that include a mask that covers the nose during sleep.
The O2Vent is a 3D printed mouth guard that is made out of nylon and custom fit to each individual. The device includes a mechanism of advancing the jaw forward to encourage a more open airway and incorporates an airway channel that further stabilizes the airway, according to Hart.
“Studies have shown our airway channel improves effectiveness by 20% to 50%,” Hart said, noting the average wear time for the O2Vent is 6.1 hours a night, versus about half that amount of time for CPAP users.
The product received FDA clearance for patients with sleep apnea and cumbersome symptoms such as loud snoring and nasal obstruction in late 2019.
The device is rolling out in the U.S. through a home health model, in which patients undergo a video consultation and take their own mouthguard impression, and is then shipped to a lab, printed, and sent back to the consumer.
Zuum Transportation, a software developer for the logistics and shipping industry, is relocating from the Irvine Towers complex to 131 Innovation Drive at UCI Research Park. Both sites are owned by Irvine Co.
The company most recently launched an automated broker platform for freight brokerages and third-party logistics as part of its goal to bring together fragmented groups made up of shippers, brokers, and carriers.
Freight brokerages face the challenge of managing headcount as the influx of freight rises and falls, which is a problem that can be solved through the digitization of services such as freight-matching capabilities and real-time shipment tracking, the company said.
“We have rigorously tested this with our own brokerage and have seen our top freight brokers cover over 30 shipments in a single day,” Chief Executive Mustafa Azizi said, noting the company is sharing its platform with external brokerages.
The new platform integrates with Zuum’s fleet manager and driver apps for carriers, and includes analytics to track performance across sales and shipment and automated payment features.
The company, which has over 40 employees, completed a $12.6 million seed round of financing last August. Backers include transportation and logistics providers Estes Express Line, BNSF Logistics and Logifruit.
NEW HIRES, BOARD MEMBERS
Newport Beach-based jCyte Inc. has brought on John Sholar as general counsel.
Sholar spent over three years at ophthalmic giant Santen Pharmaceutical, where he was head of North American legal and simultaneously global head of legal for the company’s venture arm. He was previously a partner at Husch Blackwell LLP.
Sholar is “a skilled, business savvy attorney with unique experience advising both high growth and established companies developing and commercializing innovative pharmaceutical products,” said Chief Executive Shannon Blalock, who joined jCyte from Santen last summer.
Blalock highlighted Sholar’s experience working on intellectual property cases and shaping biotech patent law at the Federal Circuit, which will “provide jCtye with unique insight into how to protect and further develop our valuable global intellectual property estate,” he said.
jCyte is a stem cell therapy developer for a blinding-eye disease known as retinitis pigmentosa. Last month, the company presented phase 2b data that showed its target population treated with a single 6 million cell dose had an early, sustained and significant improvement in the primarily endpoint of corrected visual acuity.
Secondary endpoints demonstrated meaningful improvements in peripheral vision, contrast sensitivity and the ability to ambulate in low light settings, the company said.
Octane, the Aliso Viejo-based business accelerator, has added healthcare executives Aziz Mottiwala, Daveen Chopra and Edward Kim to its board of directors.
The new appointees come as Octane spearheads a regional coalition focused on leveraging artificial intelligence and analytics to create, as Chief Executive Bill Carpou puts it, “precision medicine for one, population health for all.”
Mottiwala was named chief commercial officer of Irvine-based drugmaker Tarsus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: TARS) last year. He counts prior experience in the pharmaceutical industry as chief commercial officer of Opiant Pharmaceuticals and vice president roles in marketing at Avanir Pharmaceuticals and Allergan.
Chopra joined the area’s largest public company, Edwards Lifesciences Corp. (NYSE: EW), as corporate vice president of surgical structural heart in mid-2018. He previously spent 13 years at Medtronic, where he became a general manager and vice president of its aortic franchise before his departure.
Kim, a newcomer to the OC area, was tapped last fall as physician in chief for City of Hope’s forthcoming $1 billion cancer center and specialty hospital in Orange County. Kim was most recently chair of investigational therapies and cancer research and medical director of the clinical trials office at the Levine Cancer Institute of Atrium Health as well as a professor of medicine at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
