A startup that provides digital “smart” lockers to apartment complexes to absorb the surge of packages from online shopping just received a $15 million investment from an undisclosed investor.
Irvine-based Parcel Pending will use the funds to expand its business, according to founder and Chief Executive Lori Torres, who was an Irvine Company executive for more than a decade before launching the company.
One growth prong will focus on the startup’s new monthly subscription model that has it providing the lockers to landlords free of charge and charging apartment dwellers to use them. A digital smart locker uses technology to communicate via the cloud to let residents know they’ve received packages.
The startup recently moved into an approximately 14,000-square-foot building in Irvine that includes a warehouse. It previously occupied a 1,800-square-foot space in Irvine and an off-site warehouse in Lake Forest.
Parcel Pending is now in 26 states and Canada. It received an Entrepreneur of the Year award from OC Tech Coast Angels in March. Ray Chan of K5 Ventures, an early-stage venture fund in Newport Beach, is an adviser.
Modern ‘MTV’ Debuts
A startup with the goal of being the next MTV just launched. Newport Beach-based Edge Music Network has created an app with streaming music videos available via subscription, with 10% of each subscription going to charitable causes.
Users get rewards, such as concert tickets, as they earn points by watching, “liking” and sharing videos.
The app is the brainchild of founder and Chief Executive Elizabeth Vargas, who formerly worked for Los Angeles-based Rock-n-Roll Fantasy Camp, traveling the world interviewing music luminaries, such as Roger Daltrey of The Who.
One of her biggest coups was securing a licensing agreement with Santa Monica-based Universal Music Group. “It took me four years to secure the largest video license in the world,” she said. “I flew to New York City (to get it), knowing if I had their content, I would have 70% of the market.”
She said her mission is to provide a fair artist compensation structure, accomplished by negotiating licensing agreements with music labels to give artists a 90/10 split versus the average 70/30 split. She has partnered with John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of Mexico-based The Patrón Spirits Company and Beverly Hills-based John Paul Mitchell Systems, as one of her angel investors. Dejoria may provide another investment in the future and supports Edge’s philanthropic efforts, Vargas said.
She said she’s self-funded 80% of the startup and that the other 20% came from angel investors, who have provided about $2.5 million. Her advisory board includes Eric Sherman, founder of VH1 Classic; Steven Tyler, lead singer of Aerosmith; and Daltrey. Edge has experienced a 5% conversion rate since March from nonsubscribers to subscribers, Vargas said.
High Octane
OCTANe’s Technology Investor Forum took place May 17 to 18 in Irvine. The network of resources, expertise and capital is based in a TechSpace office suite in Aliso Viejo. Six startups that have gone through OCTANe’s LaunchPad accelerator for early-stage startups, predominantly focused on high-tech and med-tech, took the opportunity to pitch to investors.
Narrative Wave and Meridian were recognized as having the best pitches. Narrative Wave was created at quasi-incubator Frost Data Capital in San Juan Capistrano, where it still resides. It’s an analytics platform that takes data from industrial equipment and generates “narrative” reports that clients can use to cut costs, improve efficiency and increase profitability. Tustin-based Meridian is a business-to-business provider that has created an augmented reality application for “smart glasses” and mobile devices to display a company’s product in the user’s environment by superimposing it over that environment. Users can then buy products directly from the application.
Also at the conference, another LaunchPad startup, Mobilize Solutions, pitched to investors and ended up snagging a client, Costa Mesa-based ProSport Physical Therapy.
Mobilize, based in a co-working space at The Vine building in Irvine, helps companies promote brands, products and events on social media by being part of “special moments,” such as buying a car or attending a concert. An event attendee, for example, can take a selfie photo, which is then imprinted with the logo of the event sponsor. The attendee is motivated to share the picture with friends on social media, with the perk of getting a reward from the event sponsor. That produces a so-called “user-generated ad,” which companies value because it’s essentially free advertising. Attendees of the OCTANe forum who used Mobilize’s app had their pictures co-branded with the logos of OCTANe and sponsor Microsemi.
