Aliso Viejo-based OCTANe is branching out into providing for-profit advisory services and capital for startups. Its original mission—as a network known as Connect with an incubator-accelerator called LaunchPad—will remain part of its nonprofit core. The add-ons will round out OCTANe’s goal of providing comprehensive, strategic services to OC startups, said Chief Executive Bill Carpou, who has been at its helm for almost a year.
In developing the added features, Carpou said he recognized startups need both money and expertise instead of one or the other. To that end, OCTANe will augment the expertise it currently provides in the form of free mentoring with a more formal advisory service starting in May. And it’s formalizing a four-pronged capital strategy, first announced in November.
The advisory service is designed to expedite the growth of early-stage companies and help lead later-stage companies to successful exits, Carpou said, adding that he views the service as filling a void.
“OC is good at getting from ideation to (a startup), but we have not done as good a job as other regions in helping these companies grow,” he said.
The majority of the advisers will come from OCTANe’s sponsors, which include law firms, such as Irvine-based Knobbe, Martens, Olson & Bear LLP.
The new capital strategy will:
• generate venture capital and private equity money from the med-tech meccas of Boston and Minneapolis to med-tech startups in OC;
• create a small private investor network of high-net-worth individuals, ultimately expanding to 20 to 30 mostly local investors. Carpou said he envisions matching a small number of the investors with startups they are passionate about who would put up about $1 million in total;
• raise several venture capital funds in health-related areas, the first of which was announced this month: the Visionary Venture Fund, which has raised $10 million out of a $50 million goal to invest in ophthalmology startups. Future funds will invest in neurovascular, cardiovascular and orthopedic startups to name a few;
• align with OC-based corporate venture funds to provide a strategic alternative for investing in early-stage companies.
Irvine Eyed for Incubator
California State University-Fullerton plans to open an incubator in Irvine to join its center for startups in downtown Placentia that marked its one-year anniversary last month.
The Irvine incubator is scheduled to debut in September at CSUF’s secondary campus on Banting between the 405 and 5 freeways. The college acquired the 70,000-square-foot building last year for the incubator, which will occupy 1,500 square feet on the first floor.
CSUF’s Irvine campus originally was established to connect with the entire Irvine community, said John Jackson, director of the university’s Center for Entrepreneurship, and placing an incubator in Irvine dovetails with that mission, he said. Irvine is also home to the University of California-Irvine’s innovation institute, known as Applied Innovation at the Cove, as well as incubator EvoNexus in University Research Park.
The Placentia incubator is learning-based and focused on early-stage startups and inventors who haven’t yet started a company but want to get their ideas vetted, Jackson said. The university’s Startup Incubator Strategy Committee intends for the Irvine incubator to work with more advanced startups that are preparing for the launch stage, although that’s not yet set in stone, he added.
CSUF’s first incubator demonstrates its commitment to the Fullerton area, but Jackson emphasized the importance of being closer to the concentration of startup infrastructure in Irvine.
“We want to be in the game,” he said.
BringPro Brings It
BringPro opened its third funding round on Feb. 16, seeking $300,000. The startup provides on-demand, same-day delivery service for any business in OC, including Costa Mesa-based HD Buttercup and Corona del Mar-based Bliss Home & Design.
The startup also handles small residential moves and transports appliances, such as washers and dryers.
Don DiCostanzo founded it in mid-2014, putting up the original seed capital of $150,000. It’s housed at The Vine in University Research Park.
The startup closed its second round in September and raised $300,000 from angel investors, all based in OC, according to DiCostanzo, who said it was so successful that he had to turn people away.
He said the third round of funding, which he also expects angel investors to fund, will be used to support operations and get more cargo vans and drivers. He said the round should be fully subscribed or over-subscribed.
BringPro’s sales have increased by 50% every month since the company started, DiCostanzo said. In the first month, sales were below $1,000; last month, they were more than $20,000, he said.
The startup is not seeking big money yet, he added.
“We just need seed money to continue to develop the concept.”
He plans to start the larger funding round in about five months, with the goal of raising $5 million to $10 million.
BringPro currently has three cargo vans and is open seven days a week exclusively in OC, with plans to ultimately expand outside the county.
