Irvine-based biotechnology company Anvyl LLC will be among 35 startups to participate in the first University Startups Demo Day on Sept. 20 in Washington, D.C. The event is hosted by Washington, D.C.-based National Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer, an association of university startups officers.
“Anvyl is both proud and flattered to have been chosen as one of the 35 best …” Chief Operating Officer David Putman said via email.
The event is an opportunity for university-spawned startups to get exposure with venture capitalists and angel investors in the hopes of partnerships and funding, according to the council’s website. It also raises awareness among members of Congress of the “pivotal role that universities play in the formation of high potential startups, the creation of high value jobs across the country, and overall national competitiveness,” according to its website.
Anvyl is among the many startup companies working with Applied Innovation, UCI’s innovation institute, to spin off technologies with market potential. Its technology was discovered at UCI, and Applied Innovation handled the licensing. Anvyl specializes in development of drugs for serious neurologic and psychiatric disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia and autism.
It’s advancing the research of Kelvin Gee, a UCI professor of pharmacology. For more than 30 years, he’s worked to understand how signaling through certain brain channels can affect a variety of medical disorders.
He and his group have designed and synthesized new molecules that can restore normal brain signaling that affects a variety of central nervous system disorders, with fewer side effects and greater effect than traditional medicines, according to the company. The discoveries have led to more than a dozen patented technologies. Gee serves as a scientific adviser to Anvyl.
More than 200 companies were screened for the demo day. Representatives from finalist companies will give six-minute pitches to members of Congress, investors and startup officers—executives at corporations who act as a liaisons with startups—at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C.
Student Leader Empowerment
A group of students from California State University-Fullerton recently launched a startup that developed software for student-body leaders at universities. They soon found that the software also was applicable for corporations.
Huntington Beach based-Taskcot is a collaborative effort among former CSUF students Rohullah Latif, chief executive and a former student-body president; Nick Ajluni, vice president of operations; Nicholas Guillen, vice president of marketing; and Danny O’Donovan, chief technology officer, who attended Cork Institute of Technology in Ireland. He met the others while studying abroad in Southern California.
The four realized that student-body leaders all over the world faced the same challenges in managing large organizations and staying accountable, and wanted to develop a tool to empower student leaders. They came up with the idea for software that various groups and committee members can use to assign, discuss and track tasks, with the ability to share files and folders.
A development team in Ireland created and tested the software, and the company launched in June.
“It was a great opportunity and great location to be able to start something,” Latif said. “Ireland has a small, highly-globalized economy, with a large exporting sector and a significant number of multinational corporations. It’s a great place to do business.”
Taskcot now has more than 10 universities and companies around the world as clients, the majority in Ireland, one in Los Angeles and one in Silicon Valley, Guillen said.
They’ve received an investment in the six figures from an angel investor that chose to remain anonymous.
“We kind of see at the student leadership level, as motivated and inspired student leaders are to make change, they don’t necessarily have the tools or technology to leverage that big impact,” he said. “So having a collaborative management tool such as this will really help empower all those motivated and inspired student leaders to make a change and leave a lasting legacy when they leave their term at the university.”
Bits & Pieces
Newport Beach-based OC Web Kings recently launched a new website that reflects a shift in focus from offering just development services to providing a comprehensive process to startups, including design, marketing and an expanded development team. The company launched in early 2013. It took in $500,000 in revenue last year and is on track for $1 million this year, said Ian McLean, director of business development. … Concordia University Irvine’s Teen Entrepreneurship Academy recently culminated with a business plan competition. Two high school students from Luxembourg won first place for “Smart Bins,” a solar-powered trash sorting and recycling bin designed for parks, cities, colleges and other outdoor public spaces. They will share a $1,000 prize.
